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The main aim of this study is to assess the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of 44 government‐linked companies (GLCs) listed on Bursa Malaysia and to ascertain the relationship of certain company characteristics; namely size, age, profitability and leverage on the total CSR disclosure from the year 2005 to 2006.

Content analysis is deployed to determine CSR disclosure. A disclosure index consisting of 16 items was developed based on four general themes: human resource, marketplace, community and environment to assess the disclosure level. The relationship between company characteristics and total disclosure was examined using multiple linear regression analysis.

The major finding of this study is that the theme of disclosure has shifted from human resource to marketplace. This is followed by human resource, community and, finally, environment. Ironically, companies are not only disclosing good news, but also bad/negative news. This study provides further evidence that is, to a certain extent, some GLCs have influenced other companies' practices to disclose CSR information. Company size was found to be positively significant associated with the total disclosure. The remaining variables were found to be insignificant in explaining the total disclosure.

This is the first paper that looks into CSR activities, extent, themes and the determinants of CSR disclosure in the annual reports of Malaysian GLCs. The Malaysian Government, Bursa Saham, Security Commission and other relevant parties could take heed of the findings to further improve CSR awareness, practices and disclosures and quality in GLC.

The purpose of this paper is to present an in‐depth analysis of the knowledge sharing enablers and the moderating role of Islamic work ethic (IWE) on the relationship between knowledge sharing and innovation capability in the public sector organizations.

The foundations of knowledge sharing capability, IWE and innovation capability were assessed using a validated survey instrument. A total of 472 Administrative and Diplomatic Service Officers from the Malaysian public sector organizations participated in the survey.

The empirical results indicate that the intrinsic motivation to share knowledge is significant in the public sector organizations. The relationship between knowledge sharing capability and innovation capability of employees in the public sector organizations was found to be contingent on IWE.

While the study was salient and confined to the Malaysian public sector organizations, it has considerable implications for the development of an optimistic workforce in other regions and across sectors. Cross‐sectional studies are encouraged to further confirm the results.

An understanding of the pledge of the workforce to knowledge sharing, IWE and its consequences for innovativeness facilitates public sector organizations in designing and implementing modernization initiatives.

In response to the substantial need to examine IWE and workplace outcomes in a non‐Western environment, the paper embraces the extent to which IWE sways the link between knowledge sharing and innovation capability in the public sector organizations. Both scholars and practitioners will find the study valuable.

Corruption is a serious problem in Southeast Asian countries. Based on the average ranking of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, Malaysia is ranked as the second least corrupt country among Southeast Asian countries. However, this country is still facing problems in its fight against corruption, in which efforts undertaken to prevent corruption have been said to be “unsatisfactory.” The purpose of this paper is hence to examine previous literature for the possible factors affecting the success of anti-corruption efforts in Malaysia.

This study analyzes previous studies conducted on Malaysia’s experiences in its fight against corruption.

The findings of this paper indicate four attributes that lead to the failure of anti-corruption efforts in Malaysia.

This paper will be useful for scholars, policymakers and anti-corruption practitioners who are interested in Malaysia’s experiences in fighting corruption.

The literature on the relation between dividends and stock risks include mixed results. The related studies have reached either insignificant, or positive, or negative results. The authors offer a mathematical structure that addresses potential mutual benefits of dividends signaling under conditions of stock risks (systematic and unsystematic). The mathematical structure demonstrates explicitly a case of risk transfer. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential benefits to firms and stockholders when financial managers adjust dividends per share (DPS) using percentage change in the explanatory power of systematic and unsystematic risks. This perspective is derived from a practical consideration that dividends are part of stock returns that can be adjusted to take stock risks into account.

The paper utilizes the specifications of the two-stage (simultaneous) regression and partial adjustment model. The sample includes quarterly data for firms listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ for the period December 31, 1989-March 31, 2011.

The authors have reached general results based on hypotheses developed from related literature. The results show that: first, benefits of risk transfer can be realized. That is, firms as well as stockholders achieve benefits when the DPS are adjusted using percentage change in the explanatory power of systematic risk only; second, dividend growth rates are affected positively by changes in systematic risks; third, the highest stock returns in the market are reached with sharp decreases in dividend growth rates; fourth, in the highest returns quartile, firm size and time do not matter but the industry type does; and fifth, the associations between dividend growth rates, systematic, unsystematic risks, and stock returns are intrinsically nonlinear.

The study contributes to the literature in terms of first, providing practical insights on the financial strategies that help in the use of dividends to convey the right signals to stockholders, and second, empirically show the potential benefits of adjusting dividends growth rates according to systematic and unsystematic stock risks in a unified mathematical structure that adds to the current literature.

The aim of the paper is to analyse the prevalence of corruption in Malaysia since 2004 in relation to political leadership, implementation of anti-corruption measures and the political and business culture based on money politics.

The paper draws from the information and data provided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Malaysian government, international organisations, media reports, and academic papers.

The paper analyses the perceived extent of corruption in Malaysia by examining how successive governments have dealt with the problem through a wide range of measures. Corruption remains widespread because of ineffective implementation, a culture of money politics based on mutually beneficial crony associations between political actors and business leaders, political interference to frustrate enforcement against corruption offenders, especially prominent personalities, and the mixed impact of corruption prevention measures. The paper concludes that the political and business culture and the nature of political leadership have eroded the political will to combat grand corruption in Malaysia.

This paper builds on previous research on corruption in Malaysia and highlights the combined negative impact of political leadership and a business and political culture that tolerates and espouses corruption, especially through money politics, and the consequent weak political will for tackling grand corruption.

This paper aims to examine the effect of corporate integrity and external assurance on Sustainability Reporting Quality (SRQ) of Malaysian public listed companies.

The study uses a longitudinal sample of 2,463 firm-year observations of non-financial firms listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia from 2015 to 2019. The study employed panel regression that is, Fixed Effect (FE) Robust Standard Error estimation technique to test its hypotheses.

The panel regression results reveal that corporate integrity and external assurance positively and significantly influence the quality of sustainability reporting. Though the positive association shows an improvement in the SRQ of the sampled firms, it needs an improvement as the disclosure is more general and qualitative than quantitative. The present improvement in SRQ might result from some regulatory changes like the Sustainability Practice Note 9 Updates of Bursa Malaysia 2017 and the Revised MCCG Principle A to C within the same period.

The study adopts a purely quantitative approach and call for a qualitative investigation in the area in the future.

The study has policy implication for the government and regulators to strengthen compliance with the sustainability reporting guide and the Practice Note 9 Updates. It also has implication for corporate integrity and external assurance for companies, to enhance SRQ and achieve sustainable development.

The study bridged literature gaps by offering new insights and empirical evidence on the role of corporate integrity in SRQ, which has received no empirical attention in the Malaysian context.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the audit pricing literature by examining whether institutional investors and political connection are associated with higher audit fees.

Both descriptive and multivariate analyses are employed to address the research objectives. In addition, the authors use panel data to control for both heterocedasticity and contemporaneous correlations in each cross‐section.

Based on a panel analysis of 390 Malaysian firms from 1999 to 2003, a positive relationship between institutional ownership and audit fees is found, although the economic impact is minimal. Further, the authors find that audit fees are higher for politically connected firms.

A thorough examination on the role of political connection is much warranted to provide a better understanding on such connection influences the audit market.

This paper provides an alternative view on the role of political connection, and on how they influence the audit market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether political connections further impair auditor independence by investigating the relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees and as to whether political connections moderate such relationship.

This study employs panel regression analysis. The panel data set consists of 379 firm-year observations for three years from year 2001 to 2003.

Based on 379 firm-year observations for the period of 2001-2003, grounded on two proxies of political connections namely politically connected firms and the proportion of Bumiputras directors, the authors find a positive and significant relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees, and the relationship becomes weaker, only for Bumiputra-dominated firms connected firms.

This study contributes to the extant literature by examining the role of political connections in the context of auditor independence. In addition, this study is conducted in Malaysia, which provides a unique institutional environment with the existence of political connections that is built on ethnic grounds.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which Malaysia’s most recent public service reform has improved service delivery and governmental performance. It also endeavors to identify critical success factors that explain reform performance and draw lessons based on the Malaysian experience.

The paper adopts a case study approach and draws on data from both primary and secondary sources. Besides a thorough review of official documents and existing literature, the author conducted 20 individual interviews with key informants representing government officials, academics and civil society organizations.

The study shows that despite some pitfalls and misgivings, the Government Transformation Program (GTP) has produced concrete improvements in service delivery areas where previous reforms failed. One of the factors that underpin GTP’s relative success is the detailed performance management framework, which helped foster inter-agency collaboration and enforce accountability for results at various levels.

The GTP success highlights the significance of adapting reform content to local situations especially when reforms are based on external models; sanctions from the highest political office; a dedicated unit to drive the implementation and an effective performance management framework through which individuals and agencies would be held to account for results achieved.

Despite many and varied reform initiatives attempted in the past, cases of successful reform are rare, especially in developing countries. Little is known on what makes a reform work, a gap exacerbated by notable absence of systematic research on this topic. The paper contributes to address this by reviewing Malaysia’s innovative approach to reform and the insights that the Malaysian experience offers.