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While clinical governance is assumed to be part of organisational structures and policies, implementation of clinical governance in practice (the praxis) can be markedly different. This paper draws on insights from hospital clinicians, managers and governors on how they interpret the term “clinical governance”. The influence of best-practice and roles and responsibilities on their interpretations is considered.

The research is based on 40 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with hospital clinicians, managers and governors from two large academic hospitals in Ireland. The analytical lens for the research is practice theory. Interview transcripts are analysed for practitioners' spoken keywords/terms to explore how practitioners interpret the term “clinical governance”. The practice of clinical governance is mapped to front line, management and governance roles and responsibilities.

The research finds that interpretation of clinical governance in praxis is quite different from best-practice definitions. Practitioner roles and responsibilities held influence practitioners' interpretation.

The research examines interpretations of clinical governance in praxis by clinicians, managers and governors and highlights the adverse consequence of the absence of clear mapping of roles and responsibilities to clinical, management and governance practice.

The authors explore the impact of an emerging technology, blockchain technology, on diverse governance mechanisms and sustainable supply chain practices and how its relationships with the linkage of these elements.

The methodology incorporates a literature review and a qualitative empirical analysis of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standards. Expert opinions from various firms and organizations within the electronics sector are assessed. Through a thematic analysis, the relationships are identified and examined.

Data immutability, transparency and traceability capabilities of blockchain technology enhance the relationship between environmental standards and ecological supply chain sustainability practices. Although immature, the blockchain can influence the governance of supply chain sustainability practices. Immaturity of technology, lack of expertise, sharing information and trust have delayed adoption.

There is limited empirical evidence regarding blockchain's impact on governance mechanisms, specifically hybrid public-private mechanisms and sustainable supply chain practices. The study further evaluates how particular blockchain features may exert varying influences on these aspects and different sustainable supply chain traits. As an exploratory study, it proposes new areas for further research, including how blockchain's traceability function can improve sustainability standard adoption. Additionally, there is a call for integrating blockchain with technologies like IoT and sensors which may influence supply chain governance mechanisms, standards and sustainability practices.

This article studies the role played by sustainability operations management (OM) practices in the relationship between governance and environmental and social performance adopting the lenses of the upper echelons theory and the resource-based view. In particular, the authors study three main relationships: (1) the impact of governance on the implementation of sustainability OM practices, (2) the impact of sustainability OM practices on sustainability performance and (3) the mediating role of sustainability OM practices in the relationship between governance and sustainability performance.

To test this study’s research model, the authors retrieved secondary data of 430 firms from the United Stated (US) and Europe and analyzed it using partial least squares (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM).

This study’s results suggest that sustainability OM practices are needed to achieve higher social and environmental performance outcomes from governance, highlighting the key role of the OM department in the achievement of a sustainability strategy.

This paper adopts the environmental, social, governance (ESG) neglected focus and aims to provide a better understanding of and reveal the interrelationship between governance and sustainability OM practices (i.e. environmental and social).

This paper aims to consider data for listed companies in Bahrain Bourse to determine whether companies practice earnings management (EM). Further, the effect of a set of corporate governance characteristics on EM practices is examined.

The EM level was measured using discretionary accruals (DA) [calculated using the Modified Jones (1995) Model]. The study sample consisted of 20 companies listed during the period 2011-2015. Panel regression model was used to test the study hypotheses and achieve the study aims.

EM is negatively correlated with board size, confirming that a larger board is associated with a lower level of EM practices. Further, board independence is positively correlated with EM, suggesting that the larger the number of independent directors, the higher the level of EM practices. In addition, internal ownership is positively related to EM, confirming that the higher level of internal ownership increases EM practices. CEO duality does not appear to have any effect on EM in Bahrain Bourse. More interestingly, the findings reveal that companies practice EM through income-increasing DA.

Financial data and data related to other corporate governance characteristics are lacking.

The results of this study provide empirical support for the development of new regulations and amendments and necessary corrective decisions regarding the effectiveness of applying corporate governance code in Bahrain Bourse. More specifically, this study reveals an urgent need for new amendments to restrict EM practices in Bahrain Bourse.

This study enriches the EM literature by covering Bahrain as an Asian country, which has not been sufficiently examined in relation to this topic. Further, this study provides a clear picture of the level of EM practices in Bahrain Bourse to multiple parties.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to scholarly work on the role of sell-side financial analysts in corporate governance (CG). It examines the more recent work products pertaining specifically to CG that analysts based in the USA and UK have generated in the past two decades, namely, their CGCG reports. Specifically, this paper focusses on analysing how analyst CG reports constitute a comparative space in which the governance procedures of companies are evaluated and “best practices” are created.

This study involves a social constructivist textual analysis of 48 CG reports produced by analysts based in the USA and UK between 1998 and 2009.

Analyst CG reports textually construct a comparative space comprising four dimensions. First, the space is constructed for some carefully edited users to evaluate the governance of companies. Second, the construction of this space requires the selection of “building materials”, i.e., governance issues included in the space that render companies amenable to evaluation and comparison. Third, by linking the range of governance issues chosen to formal regulations, firms are rendered governable and regulatory requirements reinterpreted. Lastly, by using different types of inscriptions, such as narratives and tables, the space highlights “winners”, i.e., those companies which do better than others, and constructs their governance procedures as “best practices”.

This research provides a first step towards an in-depth understanding of analyst CG reports. The insights from this paper generate a range of areas for future research, including how these reports are produced and used.

This paper adds to the existing literature focussing on the role of analysts in CG. It extends previous studies by examining the more recent and debatable work products generated by analysts, namely, their CG reports, and suggests an extended CG role for them. Theoretically, analyst CG reports are conceptualised as “inscriptions” that construct “documentary reality”. The notion of “editing” is also drawn upon, to analyse a particular way in which documentary reality is constructed. Accordingly, this paper broadens the theoretical perspectives used in CG research.

The purpose of this paper is to review and critique prior research on audit committees using a practice-theory lens. Research on audit committees has followed the same trajectory as early research on boards of directors, which has been criticised for its singular theoretical perspectives and methodologies that do not capture the complexity of real-world experiences/behaviours.

The authors devise an analytical framework based on practice theory to conduct the review. The authors examine what audit committees should do (i.e. best practice) vs what audit committees actually do (i.e. actual activities in practice – praxis). Attributes of audit committee members, and the relationship dynamics relevant to their role execution (i.e. practitioners), are considered.

Research on boards has found that over-emphasis on agency theory’s monitoring role negatively impacts boards’ effectiveness. The authors invoke other theories in examining what audit committees do in practice. The authors characterise the role of audit committees as oversight not monitoring. The authors question whether, similar to auditing, audit committees are blamist tools or are genuinely orientated towards supporting improvements in organisational management systems. The authors unpack the ritualistic ceremonial behaviours and symbolic endeavours vs substantive engagement by audit committees. The analytical framework also considers the “guardianship circle” around audit committees in the form of the key practitioners and their relationships: audit committee members, auditors and managers.

Drawing on the analytical framework, the authors provide directions for further opportunities for research of audit committees.

This study aims to examine and compare the current waqf governance practices in waqf institutions in Malaysia.

This paper reviews professional documents and literature to propose a new and practical waqf governance measurement. Waqf governance measurements were used to examine and compare the current waqf governance practices among waqf institutions in Malaysia. The annual reports of all waqf institutions under the State Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) were analysed using content analysis on the current waqf governance practices using binomial logic.

Overall, the results indicate moderate waqf governance practices under three waqf governance categories, namely waqf governance policy, waqf governance board and waqf governance processes. This study also found a significant impact of corporatisation reformation of waqf institutions on waqf governance practices.

The findings indicate the need for all waqf institutions in Malaysia, especially for non-corporate waqf institutions, to enhance their waqf governance practices by disclosing all relevant information to the public. This is because the success of waqf fund management can be portrayed through the management’s transparency in waqf governance practices on how they deliver and use their resources to attain socio-economic objectives.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first studies that examined and evaluated the current waqf governance practices in several waqf institutions in Malaysia.

The paper aims to investigate how the governance practices of public-sector entities (PSEs) in Tanzania are shaped by competing institutional logics and strategies used to manage the logics.

In the paper, empirical evidence was gathered through documentary sources, non-participant observations and in-depth interviews with members of boards of directors (BoDs), chief executive officers (CEOs), internal and external auditors, senior executives and ministry officials. The data were analyzed using thematic and pattern-matching approaches.

The paper shows that bureaucratic and market logics co-exist and variations in governance practices within and across categories of PSEs. These are reflected in CEO appointments, multiple roles of CEOs, board member appointments, board composition, multiple board membership, board roles and evaluation of board performance. External audits also foster market logic in governance practices. The two competing logics are managed by actors through selective coupling, compromise, decoupling and compartmentalization. Despite competing logics, the bureaucratic logic remains dominant and is largely responsible for variations between the underlying logics and governance practices.

The findings suggest that public-sector reforms in emerging economies (EEs) must account for the fact that governance practices in PSEs are shaped by different institutional logics embedded in socioeconomic, political and organizational contexts and their corresponding management strategies.

Few previous studies explicitly report relationships between institutional logics and the governance practices of PSEs in EEs. The current study is one of few empirical studies to connect competing institutional logics and the associated management strategies, as well as governance practices in EEs in the context of public-sector reforms.

This chapter aims to explore and examine the extent of Islamic corporate governance practices in 35 Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) in Malaysia, Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the United Kingdom, particularly in its six major areas, namely approaches to Islamic governance, regulatory framework and internal policies, roles and functions of shari’ah board, attributes of shari’ah board members on independence, competency and transparency, and confidentiality, operational procedures and perception of IFIs of the shari’ah board’s performance. A questionnaire was developed by benefiting from the Islamic corporate governance standards identified by International Financial Services Board and Accounting and Auditing Organization for IFIs, which included mainly about 50 standards with sub-sections as questions. The study demonstrates the state of Islamic corporate governance practices in these countries. The survey findings affirm that there are significant differences and diverse Islamic governance practices amongst IFIs in the case countries. The study hence provides evidence that there are shortcomings and weaknesses to the existing governance framework, which needs further enhancement and improvement.