Corporate Governance and Board Compensation: A Case of listed Non-Financial Firms in Pakistan

The study addresses the impact of corporate governance (CG) on board compensation for the listed non-financial firms on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the period 2005-2015. We incorporated female directors, board size, ownership concentration, board independence, and adoption of CCG (code of corporate governance) as channels of CG. Board compensation was measured by the natural log of the total baord compensation. The study has controlled for firm size, firm performance, leverage, and cash flow from operation. By using ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis technique together with robust standard error, we find significant relationship between CG characteristics and board compensation.Findings suggest that CG characteristics and ownership structure plays a significant role in the board compensation determination. Board size and board independence exhibits significant positive relationship with board compensation. Additionally, consistent with literature, we find negative relationship between gender diversity and board compensation. Ownership concentration shows positive relationship with board compensation. Implementation of code of CG exhibits positive and significant relationship with board compensation. Finally we find positive relationship between CG index developed via Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and board compensation.Key Words: Corporate Governance; Board Compensation; Ownership Concentration; Gender Diversity; Corporate Governance Inde

Corporate Governance and Board Compensation: A Case of listed Non-Financial Firms in Pakistan

The study addresses the impact of corporate governance (CG) on board compensation for the listed non-financial firms on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the period 2005-2015. We incorporated female directors, board size, ownership concentration, board independence, and adoption of CCG (code of corporate governance) as channels of CG. Board compensation was measured by the natural log of the total baord compensation. The study has controlled for firm size, firm performance, leverage, and cash flow from operation. By using ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis technique together with robust standard error, we find significant relationship between CG characteristics and board compensation.Findings suggest that CG characteristics and ownership structure plays a significant role in the board compensation determination. Board size and board independence exhibits significant positive relationship with board compensation. Additionally, consistent with literature, we find negative relationship between gender diversity and board compensation. Ownership concentration shows positive relationship with board compensation. Implementation of code of CG exhibits positive and significant relationship with board compensation. Finally we find positive relationship between CG index developed via Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and board compensation.Key Words: Corporate Governance; Board Compensation; Ownership Concentration; Gender Diversity; Corporate Governance Inde

Financial Liberalization And Demand For Money: A Case of Pakistan

Literature in economics has identified many channels through which the financial liberalization may affect demand for money. There are evidences of stability as well as instability of demand for money due to financial development for developing economies. The objective of the current study is to examine the effect of financial liberalization on demand for money in Pakistan, i.e. whether financial liberalization has affected the demand for money or not. The issue is important as stable demand for money function is a prerequisite for formulating and operating monetary policy. To achieve the objective JJ cointegration and auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) to the cointegration is employed to estimate the long-run equilibrium relationship between broad money M2 and composite financial liberalization index along with other determinants of demand for money like gross domestic product, real deposit rate and exchange rate. In order to assess the stability of the model, the parameter constancy tests, i.e. recursive residuals, CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests have been applied. The empirical results indicated that for broad money, there exists long-run money demand function. The financial liberalization, gross domestic product and real deposit rate positively affect the demand for money in the long as well as short-run.Demand for money, Financial liberalization, Real deposit rate, Financial reforms, Pakistan, ARDL

DRIVERS OF CUSTOMER’S SATISFACTION: EVIDENCE FROM ISLAMIC BANKS IN PAKISTAN

The purpose of this study is to investigate the critical drivers of Islamic Banking customer satisfaction in in the Malakand division. Quantitative techniques with survey method of data collection on five-points Likert scale is used. Self-administered questionnaires consist of 18 important questions about customer satisfaction are used to collect data. To ascertain the critical factors/ contributors to customer satisfaction, exploratory factor analysis is applied. The results indicate that the primary determinants of customer satisfaction could be condensed to five factors. Each question is assigned to a component based on its related factor component score

OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, AUDIT QUALITY & FIRM INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FORM PAKISTAN

Ownership structure is a key element of directing the firm and taking strategic decisions. Separation of ownership and control brings principal- agent conflicts in organizations. Ownership structure is considered as the most powerful remedy to agency problems in firms. R&D investment being the critical and risky decision, gained the attention of researchers. The objective of this study is to determine the association between ownership structure and R&D investment. All non-financial firms listed in Pakistan stock exchange covering data from 2005 to 2018 is the sample of research. Fixed effect model is used based on husman’s test result for analysis. In addition to the ownership structure, the audit quality is taken a moderator in the relationship of ownership structure and R&D. The results of the study suggest that concentrated ownership has a significant positive, restricted ownership has a negative impact on R&D impact. While the relationship between institutional ownership and R&D could not be established. Furthermore, the audit quality had no significant moderating effect in the relationship

FACTORS DETERMINING CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS ISLAMIC BANKING PRACTICES IN MALAKAND DIVISION

Islamic banking, being an integral component of Islamic financial system, gained an exceptional popularity over the last three decades. The higher rate of growth of Islamic banking has proved it as a best alternative to Riba based banking. Like the other industries; in Islamic banking industry, customers are the most integral part of the organization strategies. Various authors endured to examine the perception and attitude of customers from one aspect or another. It is evident form the literature that the determining factors of attitude and perceptions are varying from country to country. Keeping in view the phenomenon under question, the basic objective of this study is to examine the factors determining customers’ attitude and perception towards Islamic banking practices in Malakand division. Previous studies focused on the urban areas and big cities of Pakistan, Malakand division is selected as study region as majority of the population lives in rural areas of the country. Three districts of Dir (lower), Malakand and Swat are selected as sample for data collection. Data is collected through survey questionnaires from 300 customers of Islamic banking branches operating in the study region. Questionnaire is adapted from previous studies. Correlation, and Regression are used for analysis the data.Results of the study show that all five variables have significant positive relationship with customers’ attitude. However, awareness and Shariah compliance show a negative relationship with perceptions of customers. Furthermore, Religiosity is the most dominant determinant of the customers’ attitude and perception, followed by bank image & reputation and social Influence. Customers give lesser importance to Shariah compliance and awareness as determinant of their attitude and perception towards Islamic banking practices.The results of the study are expected to benefit the banking industry in general and bankers in specific. The bankers would be able to attract more and more customers by focusing on the key determinants. The results assist the policy makers in designing, revision and implementation of the policies to satisfy the needs of the customers of the region.  The study is also beneficial to the society at large, as more and easy investment and financing facilities would be available to them. Furthermore, due to awareness and information to the bankers and customers; more and more job or business opportunities would be available to the local community and thus unemployment would be eliminated

Exploratory study into awareness of heart disease and health care seeking behavior among Emirati women (UAE) - Cross sectional descriptive study

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death among women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2010. Heart attacks usually happen in older women thus symptoms of heart disease may be masked by symptoms of chronic diseases, which could explain the delay in seeking health care and higher mortality following an ischaemic episode among women. This study seeks to a) highlight the awareness of heart diseases among Emirati women and b) to understand Emirati women\u27s health care seeking behaviour in UAE. Method: A cross sectional, descriptive study was conducted using a survey instrument adapted from the American Heart Association National survey. A convenience sample of 676 Emirati women between the ages of 18-55 years completed the questionnaire. Results: The study showed low levels of awareness of heart disease and associated risk factors in Emirati women; only 19.4% participants were found to be aware of heart diseases. Awareness levels were highest in Dubai (OR 2.18, p \u3c 0.05) among all the other emirates and in the 18-45 years age group (OR 2.74, p \u3c 0.05). Despite low awareness levels, women paradoxically perceived themselves to be self-efficacious in seeking health care. Interestingly, just 49.1% Emirati women believed that good quality and affordable health care was available in the UAE. Only 28.8% of the participants believed there were sufficient female doctors to respond to health needs of women in UAE. Furthermore, only 36.7% Emirati women chose to be treated in the UAE over treatment in other countries. Conclusion: Emirati women clearly lack the knowledge on severity and vulnerability to heart disease in the region that is essential to improve cardiovascular related health outcomes. This study has identified the need for wider outreach that focuses on gender and age specific awareness on heart disease risks and symptoms. The study has also highlighted potential modifiable barriers in seeking health care that should be overcome to reduce morbidity and mortality due to heart disease among national women of UAE

FACTORS DETERMINING CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS ISLAMIC BANKING PRACTICES IN MALAKAND DIVISION

Islamic banking, being an integral component of Islamic financial system, gained an exceptional popularity over the last three decades. The higher rate of growth of Islamic banking has proved it as a best alternative to Riba based banking. Like the other industries; in Islamic banking industry, customers are the most integral part of the organization strategies. Various authors endured to examine the perception and attitude of customers from one aspect or another. It is evident form the literature that the determining factors of attitude and perceptions are varying from country to country. Keeping in view the phenomenon under question, the basic objective of this study is to examine the factors determining customers’ attitude and perception towards Islamic banking practices in Malakand division. Previous studies focused on the urban areas and big cities of Pakistan, Malakand division is selected as study region as majority of the population lives in rural areas of the country. Three districts of Dir (lower), Malakand and Swat are selected as sample for data collection. Data is collected through survey questionnaires from 300 customers of Islamic banking branches operating in the study region. Questionnaire is adapted from previous studies. Correlation, and Regression are used for analysis the data.Results of the study show that all five variables have significant positive relationship with customers’ attitude. However, awareness and Shariah compliance show a negative relationship with perceptions of customers. Furthermore, Religiosity is the most dominant determinant of the customers’ attitude and perception, followed by bank image & reputation and social Influence. Customers give lesser importance to Shariah compliance and awareness as determinant of their attitude and perception towards Islamic banking practices.The results of the study are expected to benefit the banking industry in general and bankers in specific. The bankers would be able to attract more and more customers by focusing on the key determinants. The results assist the policy makers in designing, revision and implementation of the policies to satisfy the needs of the customers of the region.  The study is also beneficial to the society at large, as more and easy investment and financing facilities would be available to them. Furthermore, due to awareness and information to the bankers and customers; more and more job or business opportunities would be available to the local community and thus unemployment would be eliminated

OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, AUDIT QUALITY & FIRM INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FORM PAKISTAN

Ownership structure is a key element of directing the firm and taking strategic decisions. Separation of ownership and control brings principal- agent conflicts in organizations. Ownership structure is considered as the most powerful remedy to agency problems in firms. R&D investment being the critical and risky decision, gained the attention of researchers. The objective of this study is to determine the association between ownership structure and R&D investment. All non-financial firms listed in Pakistan stock exchange covering data from 2005 to 2018 is the sample of research. Fixed effect model is used based on husman’s test result for analysis. In addition to the ownership structure, the audit quality is taken a moderator in the relationship of ownership structure and R&D. The results of the study suggest that concentrated ownership has a significant positive, restricted ownership has a negative impact on R&D impact. While the relationship between institutional ownership and R&D could not be established. Furthermore, the audit quality had no significant moderating effect in the relationship