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This paper aims to examine the extent of ethical values information disclosure on the top 100 Malaysian and Indonesian companies’ annual reports using coercive isomorphism under the institutional theory.

Using the content analysis, the presence or exclusion of ethical values information disclosed on 100 Malaysian and Indonesian companies’ annual reports using a newly developed Ethical Values Disclosure Index is carried out.

The results of the analysis found that Indonesian companies on average disclosed 31 items under study compared to 27 items disclosed by the companies in Malaysia. The results suggest that Indonesian companies are more vigilant in the code of ethics, companies policy on ethical issues, monitoring program and accountability, ethical performance, ethical infrastructure and organizational responsibility aspects, whereas their Malaysian counterparts are better in reporting governance and integrity committee or board of directors.

The findings may not be applicable to other countries in the same region, nevertheless, revealed the importance of adequate ethical values disclosure in determining the level of ethical behavior.

Companies in Indonesia are coercively pressed by various influential stakeholder groups to address ethical issues. The less disclosure regarding corporate ethical behavior may indicate that unethical practices continue to be a problem in the Malaysian corporate sector.

This paper adds to the literature by examining the elements of ethical values adapted mainly from the professional bodies that regulate the accounting profession and other organizations using the institutional theory, particularly in two countries.

This study aims to investigate the content and determinants of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) anti-corruption disclosures (ACDs) of public-listed Indonesian companies using institutional and legitimacy theories.

A content analysis method is used to extract the anti-corruption information in the annual reports. This study uses 40 checklist items developed and used by prior studies to measure the extent of CSR ACD. Univariate and multivariate analyses are applied to examine the determinants of ACD.

The results show that the disclosure level of anti-corruption is considerably satisfactory at 44.9%. The whistle-blowing theme is the most frequently reported. Size of firm and industry type have significant effects on ACD. Surprisingly, the findings show that government ownership has a negative effect on ACD.

The study is limited to one year of observation and is therefore unable to capture changes in the level of disclosure due to policy changes. The results of this study help anti-corruption decision-makers by taking into account the company’s legitimacy and isomorphic factors when formulating ACD policies and efforts that could be made to promote greater disclosure of anti-corruption information.

This study contributes to the discourse of CSR by providing a more comprehensive extent and more determinants of ACD practice in an emerging country from the lens of legitimacy and institutional theories.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of fraud prevention disclosure on the Malaysian public universities’ websites.

The level of fraud prevention information disclosure was examined using content analysis of all 20 public universities in Malaysia based on the university fraud prevention disclosure index (UFPDi) previously developed by the authors’ research team.

The disclosures of eight aspects of fraud prevention policies, responses, initiatives and mechanisms were not satisfactory. Possible reasons could be because of lack of awareness and appreciation on the institutional mechanisms and lack of formal pressure from the relevant authority.

Data collection for analysis was conducted during a period of one month only due to rapid changes of the information on the websites.

The low level of disclosure using UFPDi will prompt the Malaysian public universities to take proactive actions in promoting transparent and good governance among the university staff hence assisting the government in addressing the fraud problem that is plaguing the nation.

This paper is an extension to the authors’ previous work on UFPDi. It further explains and highlights the extent of fraud prevention disclosures among academic institutions who are receiving financial resources from the government.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how external and internal drivers influence the implementation of the environment management system by selected local councils in Malaysia from the institutional theory and national culture perspectives.

This research used a multiple case study approach focusing on three selected Malaysian local councils. The data collection method included semi-structured interviews with officers directly involved in the environment management system implementation.

Organizations are more influenced by external rather than internal drivers in implementing the environment management system, and dominated by the normative pressure. This study offers insights into the effectiveness of the identified drivers in the environment management system implementation process, by relating to the type of conformance, either by “compliance” or “convergence.”

This study demonstrates the effect of national culture on the isomorphic influences of the internal and external motivations by local councils to implement the environment management system, namely, large power distance, collectivism, short-term normative orientation, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance.

The outcomes can be useful to managers of local councils with responsibilities for environmental decision making.

Institutional theory and national culture values are used successfully to explain the implementation of the environment management system in the three selected Malaysian councils in this study, in line with the public sector reform agenda undertaken by the Malaysian Government.

This paper aims to explain the development of fraud prevention disclosure index (FPDI) for Malaysian public universities.

The paper reported a comprehensive review on fraud prevention and control plans of several international policies and of local and international universities.

The final 8 categories and 100 items under review have been developed in an instrument, the proposed FPDI, to measure the level of commitment of public universities in preventing fraud.

The FPDI will serve as an evaluation tool to measure the level of commitment of public universities toward preventing fraud practices through disclosure practices.

The FPDI is hoped to inculcate anti-fraud culture amongst public universities and to promote accountability, widen and strengthen good organization’s ethics, create ethical work place environment and enhance corporate governance framework by instilling a culture of professional conduct that is free from corruption.

This paper is among the first paper that develops the index specifically to measure the universities’ level of commitment to prevent fraud.

The objective of this study is: 1) to examine the effect of whistleblowing system and fraud intention, 2) the impact of Machiavellianism personality and fraud intention, 3) the interaction effect between whistleblowing system, Machiavellianism personality and fraud intention.

This study carried out a 2 × 2 between-subjects true experimental research design, using the Web-based tool. The subjects were 75 accounting undergraduate students from seven universities in Indonesia who were enrolled for auditing courses.

This study shows that fraud intention increases with the absence of a whistleblowing system. This research also shows that higher Machiavellianism increases individual fraud intention.

The poor internet connection contributes to obstruction in accessing the experimental website. Few participants were required to repeat the completion of the experimental module.

This study contributes to developing the whistleblowing system to mitigate fraud intention in organizations considering the personality trait of the individual.

This study suggests the importance of a better understanding of fraud mechanisms to enhance the awareness of the whistleblowing system.

This study uses the whistleblowing system as a proxy for an opportunity in the fraud triangle concept. There is limited empirical research conducted on examining the whistleblowing system to fraud intention and the interaction of Machiavellian personality and whistleblowing system to fraud intention.

This paper aims to describe the development of the ethical values disclosure index (EVDi) for Malaysian companies using the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and isomorphism perspectives.

This paper reports an inclusive examination of international and national guidelines in relation to the code of ethics and ethical values in making the disclosure.

The final 10 categories and 40 items under review have been developed in an instrument, the proposed EVDi, for measuring the commitment undertaken by companies in communicating ethical values information to stakeholders.

The EVDi may fulfil the function of good governance to inculcate ethical work culture throughout companies.

Effective ethical values in communication may reduce the likelihood of illegal activities and cost of acting unethically in organisations.

The value of this paper is its approach of using the isomorphism concept from the institutional theory to address the SDG 16 by developing the EVDi. The new index incorporates core elements of moral values adapted mainly from the professional bodies that regulate the accounting profession and other related organisations. The index is an initiative used to measure companies' commitment to promoting ethical values through disclosure. The efforts to measure the level of commitment supporting the SDG 16 promote effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

This chapter examines the determinants of accountability practices disclosure on the websites of Malaysian local authorities, from the institutional isomorphism perspective.

A content analysis was employed to examine the websites of all local authorities in Malaysia. A modified accountability disclosure index was used to examine the extent of accountability practices disclosure on websites. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the significant impact of institutional factors on the accountability practices disclosure.

The results suggest that, on average, Malaysian local authorities have disclosed 42 items (or 42%) of the accountability practices disclosure on the websites. The implementation of innovation activities, political competition and press visibility has statistically influenced the extent of accountability practices disclosure of Malaysian local authorities on the websites on the premise of coercive isomorphism.

This chapter highlights the institutional factors that influence the extent of online accountability practices disclosure of local authorities in developing countries. The findings therefore enable local authorities to explore the best possible approaches to effectively discharge accountability and to promote greater transparency through the dissemination of information on the website.

This chapter contributes to the public sector accounting literature by introducing new institutional factors that influence the disclosure practice of local authorities in Malaysia i.e. the establishment of the Integrity Unit and implementation of innovation activities under the public sector reform agenda.

The objective of this chapter is to explore the anti-corruption practices in Indonesian CSR best practice companies using the institutional theory. The methodology was based on focus group interview involving 10 CSR best practice companies; it was undertaken to obtain broader perspectives on anti-corruption practices. All respondent companies were involving their employees in anti-corruption practices in many ways. This study found that the institutionalization of anti-corruption practices is derived from both normative and mimetic isomorphism. Greater emphasis on integrating anti-corruption practices into CSR best practices would assist in enhancing awareness of the importance of anti-corruption practices, which in turn would improve the level of company’s trust and reliability. The anti-corruption practices in Indonesian CSR-based practice companies are applicable for general business activities and not specifically on CSR activities, such as charitable, sponsorship, donation, and community involvement. This is the first qualitative study that explores the anti-corruption practices in Indonesian companies. The study is important as corruption issues have been widely discussed in this country, and the Government is putting great efforts to combat corruption. Thus, this study brings valuable implications and insights to both academic and practical areas.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the role of mimetic isomorphism in relation to reporting sustainability information on local authority websites.

The paper adopts a case study approach using semi‐structured interviews of 16 Malaysian local councils.

The paper finds that 15 out of 16 of the interviewed councils mimicked the sustainability information on websites of other councils. Interviews revealed that they do so to copy ideas about sustainability activities implementation rather than reporting format. Councils imitate both Malaysian and international websites.

Websites play an important role in the improvement of sustainability development for learning, benchmarking and cost reduction. The pattern of copying websites suggests a hierarchical model where councils lower in the hierarchy copy councils at the next level in the hierarchy.

This paper adds to the limited literature on mimetic isomorphism of public sector website sustainability reporting in developing countries.