The importance of workplace disclosure: perspectives of management and employees

This paper explores management and employees perspective on the importance to disclose workplace and human resource information in annual report. Workplace disclosure is one of the four components of Corporate Social Reporting (CSR). Thirteen managers from 5 GLC and 5 non GLCs and 22 employees were interviewed to gain their awareness and perceptions on the importance to disclose workplace and human resource disclosure in annual report. The findings from the interview analysis showed that there were less significant differences between the management and employees concerning their understanding with respect to CSR and workplace disclosure. The findings revealed that although the interviewees were aware about the CSR concept, their understanding was limited to the company’s responsibility towards the community and the environment. Little significant difference in the opinion was also discovered concerning certain issues comprising the importance of workplace information and the reason for disclosure. The interviewees from employees group perceived that disclosure of workplace information is important and gives advantages to the company but too much disclosure can create a competitive threat to the company

Stakeholder salience and social responsibility: Study of small businesses in Malaysia

This study empirically examined the role of stakeholders’ influence on social responsibility practices of small businesses in Malaysia, and analysed the importance and current attention of small firms to these stakeholder groups using the Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis (IPMA). Findings of this study revealed that community’s influence and customers’ influence had significant positive impact on the social responsibility practices of small firms. Moreover, the results of IPMA for the social responsibility construct indicated that community’s influence had the highest importance for small businesses and was given the highest level of attention by the firms. In contrast, customer’s influence was given lower attention by small firms despite its high level of importance for social responsibility practices of the firm

Corporate Governance and Sustainability Practices in Islamic Financial Institutions: The Role of Country of Origin

AbstractThis study examines the role of country of origin on the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability practices in Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). Different from conventional financial institutions, the IFIs has a group of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) to act as the governance decision maker and a gate keeper to the institutions in ensuring that IFIs will comply with the Shariah laws. Thus, the corporate governance dimension in this study includes the size of SSB in addition to the size of board members, the number of independent directors, and the aspects of environmental, social, and profit in the IFIs’ mission and/or vision. A total sample of 82 IFIs in Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) and Non-GCC countries were examined. The study found that the board size, directors’ independence, and the aspects of environmental, social and profit in the mission and/or vision have positive relationship for IFIs in GCC countries. However, the size of SSB is found to have insignificant relationship with the sustainability practices of IFIs. The country of origin is found to have a moderating role on the relationships between all of the corporate governance dimensions with sustainability practices except for the size of SSB and sustainability practices relationship. This implies that the size of SSB of IFIs in GCC countries does not have a great influence towards sustainability practices as compared to the size of SSB in non-GCC countries

The impact of surplus free cash flow and stock market segmentations on earnings management in Jordan: agency - and institutional - theory perspectives / Ahmad A. Toumeh, Sofri Yahya and Azlan Amran.

The current research aims at providing evidence concerning the influence of surplus free cash flow (SFCF) and stock market segmentations (SMS) on income-increasing earnings management practices in Jordan. The results, based on a sample of all non-financial companies that were listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) from 2013 to 2017, confirm the research hypotheses. The Huber-White’s sandwich standard errors for randomeffects regression was used as the primary statistical tool for this study. The findings revealed a significant and positive association between SFCF and income-boosting discretionary accruals (DAC). As well, the results found that SMS was significantly and positively associated with the positive DAC. This research adds value to scholarship by investigating the impact of SMS variable on earnings management. To the best available knowledge, this relationship has not been examined either in Jordan or elsewhere in the world. Further, this is the first empirical attempt to investigate the effect of SFCF on earnings management in Jordan, which provides meaningful information for companies seeking to understand and reduce agency problems within the Jordanian context

Does board capital enhance corporate social responsibility disclosure quality? The role of CEO power.

This paper examines the relationship between board capital attributes and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) quality and how CEO power moderates the association between board capital attributes and CSRD quality. Using a cross-sectional sample of 114 firms, we find that directors' experience and directors' interlocking have positive impacts on CSRD quality while directors' political ties have a significant negative impact on CSRD quality in Saudi firms. Contrary to our hypotheses, we find no support for the impacts of directors' education, directors' expertise, and board nationality on CSRD quality. Moreover, we find partial support for the moderation effects of CEO power. Overall, we theoretically highlight the roles of resource dependence theory and agency theory in enhancing CSRD quality

Determinants of Green Banking Adoption: A Theoretical Framework

All around the world, Green Banking has gained a tremendous moment in the last few decades. The green movement in the banking sector was triggered due to the escalating global climate change being caused by environmental degradation. Mostly attributed to the manufacturing sector, it has now been realized that banks are one of the major causes of the global climate change both directly and indirectly. This has caused an increased focus and stakeholder pressure for Green Banking adoption at the global level. Based on the Institutional theory, this study proposes a framework for examining the relationship between organizational adoption determinants and the adoption of Green Banking. The proposed framework is based on Institutional theory and justified through the existing literature. The study proposes the hypothesis for examining the relationship between determinants and Green Banking adoption. External or institutional factors are proposed to play an essential role in influencing a bank’s adoption of Green Banking practices. The proposed framework can be adopted by a country’s regulatory authorities and the individual banks in order to identify the factors that can positively influence and facilitate the adoption of Green Banking.   Keywords:greenbanking,greenbankingadoption,stakeholderpressures,institutional theory, green banks

The mediating effect of strategic posture on corporate governance and environmental reporting

The aim of this study is to explain how corporate governance affects environmental reporting through the mediating effect of strategic position. The data were collected from chief executive managers and chief financial managers of 197 large companies in Malaysia. The partial least squares technique was used to test the proposed relationships. The results show that managers’ strategic posture mediates the impact of four aspects of corporate governance, namely, board size, board independency, CSR committee presence, and institutional ownership on environmental reporting. These findings extend the literature on the relationship between corporate governance and environmental reporting by providing insight into the reasons for these relationships. The results of the study will be useful for managers of companies and investors to become knowledgeable about those aspects of corporate governance which lead to higher environmental reporting. This study can also inform policy-makers about the types of firms that are less likely to disclose environmental reports and to develop effective enforcement of regulations

Managerial Perceptions Concerning Nondisclosure of Sustainability Issues: A Case of Two Selected Banks in Bangladesh

This paper aims to explore the perceptions of senior bankers concerning nondisclosure of sustainability issues within the context of Bangladesh. The main objective of this paper is to critically examine the reasons for managerial reluctance to report corporate sustainability issues for two competing banks in Bangladesh, in general, and crucial issues, such as energy, human rights, and environmental issues, in particular. The study considered the perceptions of senior managers of two selected banks as gathered through an interview process. In total, 20 senior bankers of the two banks were interviewed to ascertain their perceptions concerning nondisclosure of corporate sustainability issues. The study found numerous reasons behind the nondisclosure of sustainability issues, such as the lack of sufficient resources, absence of the practice by other banks, lack of a legal framework, lack of pressure from any other concern, absence of a sustainable corporate plan, shortage of manpower, lack of infrastructure and logistic support, and the cost involved. From an institutional perspective, organizational changes are not always favourable, sometimes organizational actors adapt strategies to resist any change. This research provides an explanation for non-disclosed items in the two selected banks’ sustainability reporting. The findings provide some indication of how such practices can be developed further

Board size and accounting conservatism of Malaysian listed firms

Board of directors is entrusted with responsibilities to monitor operations of firms. Therefore, the board should have effective characteristics to ensure the interest of shareholders is protected.In view of that, Code of Corporate Governance was issued in Malaysia in 2000 to strengthen the board.Objective: This paper examines board size, one of the board’s characteristics, to assess whether it is big or small board that produces high quality financial reporting.In particular, it examines the effect of board size on the level of accounting conservatism for Malaysian firms listed on Bursa Malaysia. Accounting conservatism is an important element in good quality financial reporting Sample of this study consists of 3,852 firm-year observations of non-financial firms over the period 2001-2012. Results: From the analysis, results reveal that the level of accounting conservatism is higher for firms with small board size.Conclusion: With respect to financial reporting quality, board of directors is more effective when the number of board members is smal

Pengukuhan keperibadian pelajar muslim melalui service-learning

Service-Learning (S-L) menawarkan pengalaman pembelajaran yang bermakna secara teori dan praktikal melalui usaha berkhidmat untuk masyarakat bagi memenuhi keperluan mereka. Islam memandang memberi khidmat kepada komuniti sebagai salah satu amalan terbaik. Oleh itu nilainilai yang dipupuk melalui S-L bukanlah suatu yang terpisah daripada elemen agama. Makalah ini meneroka impak dan pengalaman pembelajaran S-L yang telah dilalui oleh pelajar bidang pengajian Islam dari Fakulti Pengajian Islam (FPI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Ia menganalisis maklumbalas bertulis yang diberikan oleh peserta yang telah menjawab dua soalan terbuka dalam soalselidik. Seramai 256 peserta kajian telah menjawab soalselidik dan juga soalan terbuka tersebut. Data yang dikumpul diproses secara tematik menggunakan perisian ATLAS.Ti. Terdapat tiga tema utama yang dikeluarkan daripada jawapan peserta menunjukkan bahawa khidmat yang diberikan menunjukkan Islam bersifat syumul, kasih sayang dan agama dakwah. Antara penekanan personaliti positif yang terbentuk adalah rasa persaudaraan, keinginan untuk membantu orang lain serta rasa kesyukuran. Dari segi praktikalnya, teori-teori Islam yang diperolehi dalam bilik kuliah dapat dilaksanakan dan dikongsi di lapangan masyarakat untuk manfaat yang lebih besar bagi memenuhi keperluan sebenar. Justeru, kajian ini mencadangkan agar, amalan S-L diterapkan secara sistematik di dalam pembelajaran di institusi pengajian tinggi untuk tujuan menghasilkan graduan Muslim yang holistik dan tersedia bagi berkhidmat kepada masyarakat