Search results

Purpose: The book chapter seeks to investigate the numerous green finance measures already taken by various banks in the direction of Bangladesh’s sustainable development. The chapter also demonstrates the extent to which banks in the nation will use green finance between 2019 and 2022.

Need for the study: This study indicated that practically all banks participated in green finance initiatives to promote sustainable economic growth. Private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs) have taken more measures than the other banks, although their efforts still fall short. Therefore, it will be better for the environment and sustainable growth if the financial industry adopts more green finance projects.

Methodology: The study mostly relied on secondary data and information gathered from Bangladesh Bank annual reports, numerous studies on green financing, and the websites of several institutions. Microsoft Excel has been used to examine the data. Data have been presented using tables, graphs, and charts.

Findings: Green financing is now the demand of the time because the whole world, especially Bangladesh, is facing adverse impacts from global warming and climate change. So environmental issues have become the main concern of the government, Bangladesh Bank, stakeholders, and society, and they wish to know about the initiatives towards green financing taken by the various banks to reduce the impact of global warming.

Implications: Policymakers, governments, private and public organisations, banking industries, and their stakeholders will benefit from the book chapter.

Introduction: The global financial crisis has affected the financial markets and has had social consequences in addition to economic ones. The concept of ‘sustainability’ concerns firms reaching their main corporate goals. So, to maximise corporate financial performance (FINP), firms pay attention to non-financial data, such as elements of governance, social, and environmental concerns (henceforth referred to as ESG). Therefore, non-financial information provided by EGS factors measured by the ESG score has a crucial role in incorporating strategy and firm performance.

Purpose: This chapter looks at how ESG scores affect the performance of firms. The term ‘ESG’ describes how corporate operations include ESG principles. The ESG score is a novel way to gauge a company’s sustainability.

Methodology: ESG practices are a current phenomenon that has taken the attention of researchers in the last decades. Besides the amount of research conducted, researchers still need consensus regarding its impact. This chapter implements a systematic literature review to compile the research on ESG performance (ESGP) and how it affects business performance.

Findings: Businesses can incorporate sustainability practices into their operations with the help of ESG reports. ESG reports and scores provide non-financial information, which is crucial for businesses to achieve sustainability in their activities and attract more investors. The chapter contributes to the literature by creating value through a comprehensive and theoretical literature review.

This study aims to investigate the effect of political turmoil on the firm financial performance, particularly in presence of politically affiliated board of directors.

The study applied panel regression analyses on a data set of Pakistan’s listed companies ranged over 14 years, spanning from 2007 to 2021. Political turmoil was first gauged through three determinants, i.e. political protest, government election and constitutional reform, and thereafter, economic uncertainty index was used as a proxy for political turmoil. For the purpose of political connection, the study used political affiliation of the board of directors.

The study finds that political turmoil has deleterious effect on the return on assets and Tobin’s Q. The study further unveils that politically affiliated firms are relatively insulated from the volatility posed by the political uncertainty and exhibit significantly better financial outcomes.

Findings of the study suggest that appropriate composition of the board is imperative in offsetting the risk posed by the political turmoil. Hence, the results are useful for investors, policymakers and regulators to ensure financial soundness of firms in the wake of political turmoil.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the moderating impact of political connection on the performance of companies in presence of political turmoil.

This study aims to examine the extent to which information asymmetry affects investment efficiency and whether the presence of blockholders moderate this relationship.

We employ the data of firms listed on the Malaysian stock exchange for the period 2010–2018, to compose our sample. Our final sample includes the 100 largest non-financial firms based on market capitalization. Collectively, these 100 companies contribute 84.2% to the total market capitalization (MYR 1,730bn) which is representative of the whole market. The ordinary least squares regressions were used as the main estimation technique. The system generalized method of moments, two-stage least squares and propensity score matching were also used, to address potential endogeneity concerns.

We document a positively significant association of information asymmetry with investment inefficiency. These results imply that information asymmetry reduces investment efficiency and enhances sub-optimal investments. We also document that blockholders negatively moderate the relationship of information asymmetry with investment inefficiency. Further analyses show that investment inefficiency is higher in low-growth firms than in high-growth firms because of higher information asymmetry.

We focus on Malaysia, which is a predominantly common-law Anglo-Saxon country. Graff (2008) documented that the investors are treated differently across legal systems and there are differences between the continental European and Anglo-Saxon countries. La Porta et al. (1999) documented that investors tend to have more legal protection in Anglo-Saxon countries. Therefore, our results may not be generalized to countries with different legal systems.

An important implication of our findings is that stakeholders may encourage the presence of blockholders and give them a voice to weaken the positive relationship between information asymmetry and investment inefficiency.

This study contributes to the contingency literature by investigating the moderating effect of an important governance mechanism, i.e. the presence of blockholders on information asymmetry-investment efficiency nexus. Despite being important, this moderating effect has been largely overlooked in the literature. Our study contributes by providing an understanding of how blockholders can influence investment decisions, offering insights for academics, investors and policymakers focused on improving the efficacy of investment decisions and governance structure.

This study aims to examine the influence of managerial myopia on the excessive financialization behavior of listed firms on Bursa Malaysia.

Through a sample of 313 firms from 2015 to 2021, the author examine whether managerial myopia promotes or inhibits corporate financialization. The author uses ordinary least squares and Logit as the baseline models and addresses potential endogeneity through the dynamic-panel generalized method of moments. The results are also robust to alternative measures of financialization and managerial myopia.

The results show a significant positive effect of managerial myopia on the excessive financialization of enterprises. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the impact of managerial myopia on the over-financialization of enterprises is more prominent in periods of low economic policy uncertainty. However, the relationship between excessive financialization and managerial myopia is weakened in the presence of female chief executive officers.

The empirical results have useful policy implications. First, firms should establish scientific managerial assessment and supervision systems to avoid excessive financial investment behavior by myopic managers caused by assessments that place too much emphasis on short-term performance. Second, regulators and policymakers should encourage firms to appoint women to top management positions, which may inhibit short-sighted financialization behavior. Finally, the regulatory authorities should undertake the necessary measures driving companies to disclose the investment direction of the funds so that shareholders and investors can understand the use direction of the funds in a timely manner, which can effectively prevent the economy “from the real to the virtual” and promote the development of the real economy.

This paper expands the existing research on corporate financialization behavior and provides a new theoretical basis for the underlying factors of excessive financialization. It studies the influence of corporate financialization from the perspective of short-run managerial actions and deepens the understanding of managerial myopia and companies’ financialization levels.

Perception of organizational politics is one of the key factors of the organization's performance. Based on the principles of Game Theory, this study aims to examine the impact of management's and employee's politics within an organization on the psychological and organizational stress levels of workers, followed by their task and contextual performance.

Following the non-probability convenience sampling technique, the data was collected from the managerial and non-managerial staff of public, private and semi-government services organizations in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Abbottabad and Karachi cities in Pakistan.

The structural analyses indicate that organizational politics is a major cause of stress among workers and has a significant positive impact on the psychological and organizational stress of workers. Moreover, both organizational politics and job stress hinder workers' performance.

The findings of the current research provide valuable insights into the management of firms about the destructive role of politics with a special focus on psychological and organizational stress, followed by job and contextual performance, particularly in the context of Pakistan. It also proposes strategies to counter this issue, improving worker's performance. Furthermore, the findings also suggest whether management or employees are more involved in organizational politics.

The purpose of this study is to outline the process, procedures and techniques used for digitization and digital preservation of theses and dissertations (TDs) collection at the Central Library of Quaid-I-Azam University, Pakistan.

Since the phenomenon under investigation is exploratory in nature, a case study qualitative paradigm was used to conduct this study.

The findings of the study offer a brief overview of the cost-effective solution that leveraged in-house expertise for the digital preservation of TDs. This led to the establishment of a knowledge repository hosting a substantial collection of approximately 25,857 electronic theses and dissertations, accessible online since August 2023. This project digitally preserved approximately 9,387 TDs on CDs/DVDs, and scanned about 15,000 print TDs, comprising around 1,399,244 pages. The cost incurred per page, including labor and rent of a photocopy machine, was just Rs 0.548 making it a cost-effective technique. The total cost incurred for this process was just 0.768m Pakistani rupees (equivalent to $2,509.55). The findings revealed key challenges, including administrative, financial, technical and copyright issues, that impede the effective execution of the project.

This case study is limited to one Pakistani public sector university library. This case study holds significance in terms of practical insights and implications for academic institutions and library administrators in other developing countries like Pakistan, which have similar economic, social and technical circumstances.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first-ever study conducted to elucidate the cost-effective strategy adopted for digitally preserved TDs without additional financial and human resources while creating a knowledge repository.

This paper aims to examine how the diversity of educational levels within bank boards influences the efficiency and stability of banks operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Unlike previous studies, this analysis also investigates the role of board gender diversity in moderating the relationship between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency and financial stability in MENA.

In this study, a sample of 77 banks in the MENA region spanning the years 2011 to 2018 is used. The relationship between the presence of highly educated directors on the board, bank efficiency and stability is assessed using the ordinary least squares method. Additionally, the authors use the Generalized Method of Moments technique to correct endogeneity problem.

This study establishes a positive association between the presence of directors with advanced educational backgrounds on bank boards and bank efficiency and stability. Furthermore, the inclusion of women on the board strengthens this relationship.

These findings have important implications for policymakers and regulators in the MENA region, suggesting that promoting diversity policies that encourage the participation of highly educated directors on bank boards can contribute to enhanced efficiency and financial stability. Policymakers may also consider implementing quotas or guidelines to improve gender diversity in board appointments, thereby fostering bank performance in the region.

This study stands out for its innovation and distinctiveness, as it delves into the connection between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency in the MENA region. Notably, it surpasses previous research by investigating the moderating role of board gender diversity, thus offering valuable insights into the complex interplay between these two facets of board diversity. This contribution enriches the existing literature by providing novel perspectives on board composition dynamics and its influence on bank efficiency and stability.

Evaluating project success within the construction industry presents challenges due to the unique characteristics of the sector, the complexity of projects, and the involvement of diverse stakeholders. Conducting a bibliometric analysis, this paper aims to unravel the major research themes and methodologies utilised by researchers in studying the critical success criteria for construction projects, as well as extracting these success criteria.

The researchers systematically searched and screened 95 papers from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. This study conducted research focus parallelship network (RFPN) analysis and keywords co-occurrence network (KCON) analysis using BibExcel and Gephi to cluster the papers, illuminate the relationships among keywords within each cluster, and identify the primary research directions.

Using the RFPN analysis, this study classified the papers into three distinct clusters: infrastructure and public projects success, risk and knowledge management, and contractors and procurement management. Statistical techniques such as structural equation modelling (SEM) and multi-criteria decision-making methods such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) have been used to analyse project success in the construction industry.

Considering the intensified demand for streamlined digital interactions and the increasing emphasis on sustainability and safety performance, construction companies are recommended to allocate greater investments toward the automation and digitisation of their products and processes. Prioritising modular construction and embracing transformative technologies alongside data science is crucial for enabling well-informed decision-making, and enhancing project success.

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by conducting a quantitative and systematic evaluation of the literature on project success criteria in the construction industry and uncovering key research areas. It addresses the pressing need to understand the complexities of construction projects amidst evolving industry dynamics and emerging disruptions. Moreover, by highlighting the implications of digital innovations and modular construction, this study urges deeper exploration into their impact on project performance and stakeholder satisfaction. This research sets a comprehensive framework for investigating the interplay between project complexity, technological advancements, and sustainable practices in the construction sector, paving the way for strategic advancements in the field.

This paper aims to synthesize the diverse literature on nomination and remuneration committees and provide avenues for future research.

This study provides a comprehensive literature review of theoretical and empirical studies published in reputable international journals indexed by Scopus.

The literature review reveals several aspects of the nomination and remuneration committee. These aspects have been classified into the definition of the nomination and remuneration committee, dimensions of the nomination and remuneration committee, measurement and research review results, reasons for conflict empirical findings, company dynamics and research on moderators, as well as recommending future research.

Our literature review shows that nomination and remuneration committees play a role in improving board performance and company performance, reducing agency conflicts and improving corporate governance to provide implications for companies, regulators and investors and pave the way for future research.

This paper identifies issues related to nomination and remuneration committees, their theoretical and practical implications and avenues for future research.