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This case study presents a critical analysis of why and how corporate managers in China are reluctant to adopt sustainability reporting assurance (SRA) provided by externally independent third-party assurers, despite the fact that it is acknowledged as a value-adding activity globally.

A longitudinal fieldwork case study was conducted from 2014 to 2019 in a Chinese central state-owned enterprise (CSOE), a pioneer in sustainability reporting practice since the mid-2000s, to collect first-hand empirical data on managerial perceptions of the adoption of external SRA. Semi-structured interviews with 25 managers involved in sustainability (reporting) practice were conducted. The interview data were triangulated with an analysis of archival documents and board meeting minutes pertaining to the undertakings of sustainability practices in the case study organization.

Our empirical analysis suggests that while managers recognize the benefits of adopting external SRA in enhancing the legitimacy of sustainability accountability, they oppose SRA because of their deep-rooted allegiance to the dominant logic of sociopolitical stability in China. SRA is envisaged to risk the stability of the socialist ideology with which CSOEs are imbued. Therefore, any transformational approach to accepting a novel (foreign) practice must be molded to gain control and autonomy, thereby maintain the hegemony of stability logic. Instead of disregarding external verification, managers of our case SOE appear to harness sustainability reporting as a navigational space to engage in internally crafted alternative manners in order to resist the rationality of SRA.

The empirical analysis presents a nuanced explanation as to why internal managers have hitherto been reluctant to embrace the embedding of independent assurance into the sustainability reporting process. Our prolonged fieldwork provides ample context-specific, intra-organizational evidence regarding the absence of SRA in Chinese CSOEs, which warrants more attention given their considerable presence in the global economy. In addition, the empirical analysis contributes to our understanding of the managerial capture of sustainability issues in a specific context of state capitalism and how organizations and individuals in an authoritarian regime interpret and respond to novel discourses derived from distinct institutional settings.

This paper aims to examine the roles of quality managers at community colleges, their experiences balancing accountability and improvement and their insights into the future of quality assurance.

This phenomenological, qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with eight community college quality managers to investigate their roles, experiences and perspectives. A reflexive thematic approach was used to analyze the interview data.

Four themes were identified from participant responses: quality managers frame and enable program quality, quality managers drive program change, quality managers cultivate a culture of quality and quality managers seek system change. The findings illustrate the roles played by quality managers as they work to improve college education at program, institution and system-wide levels.

The decision of participants to accept the recruitment invitation might reflect particular attitudes, perspectives or experiences.

Quality assurance has emerged as a key mechanism for ensuring postsecondary programs are current, relevant and meeting the evolving needs of students and employers. This study advances the understanding of how quality assurance processes play out at the operational level and explores the experiences of quality managers as they navigate various quality tensions.

Quality managers play key roles in leading, evaluating and influencing quality assurance processes in postsecondary education yet they are underrepresented in the literature. The findings of this study shed new light on the aspirational and influential roles they play in advancing quality assurance.

Effective translation has become essential for seamless cross-cultural communication in an era of global interconnectedness. Translation management systems (TMS) have redefined the translation landscape, revolutionizing project management and execution. This study examines the attitudes of translation agencies and professional translators towards integrating and utilizing TMS, with a specific focus on Saudi Arabia.

The study's design was based on a thorough mixed-methods strategy that purposefully combined quantitative and qualitative procedures to create an array of findings. Through a survey involving 35 participants (both project managers and professional translators) and a series of interviews, this research explores the adoption of TMS, perceived benefits, influencing factors and future considerations. This integrated approach sought to investigate the nuanced perceptions of Saudi translation companies and expert translators about TMS. By combining the strengths of quantitative data's broad scopes and qualitative insights' depth, this mixed-methods approach sought to overcome the limitations of each method, ultimately resulting in a holistic understanding of the multifaceted factors shaping attitudes within Saudi Arabia's unique translation landscape.

Based on questionnaires and interviews, the study shows that 80% of participants were familiar with TMS, and 57% had adopted it in their work. Benefits included enhanced project efficiency, collaboration and quality assurance. Factors influencing adoption encompassed cost, compatibility and resistance to change. The study further delved into participants' demographic profiles and years of experience, with a notable concentration in the 6–10 years range. TMS adoption was linked to improved translation processes, and participants expressed interest in AI integration and mobile compatibility. Deployment models favored cloud-based solutions, and compliance with industry standards was deemed vital. The findings underscore the evolving nature of TMS adoption in Saudi Arabia, with diverse attitudes shaped by cultural influences, technological compatibility and awareness.

This research provides a holistic and profound perspective on the integration of TMS, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the opportunities, obstacles and potential pathways to success. As the translation landscape continues to evolve, the findings from this study will serve as a valuable compass guiding practitioners and researchers towards effectively harnessing the power of technology for enhanced translation outcomes.

This study examines how assurors make sense of sustainability assurance (SA) work and how interactions with assurance team members and clients shape assurors’ sensemaking and their actual SA work.

To obtain detailed accounts of how SA work occurs on the ground, this study explores three SA engagements by interviewing the main actors involved, both at the client firms and at their Big Four assurance providers.

Individual assurors’ (i.e. partners and other team members) sensemaking of SA work results in the crafting of their logics of action (LoAs), that is, their meanings about the objectives of SA work and how to conduct it. Without organizational socialization, team members may not arrive at shared meanings and deviate from the team-wide assurance approach. To fulfill their objectives for SA work, assurors may engage in socialization with clients or assume a temporary role. Yet, the role negotiations taking place in the shadows of the scope negotiations determine their default role during the engagement.

Two options are available to help SA statement users gauge the relevance of SA work: either displaying the SA work performed or making it more uniform.

This study theoretically grounds how assurors make sense of SA work and documents how (the lack of) professional socialization, organizational socialization and socialization of frequent interaction partners at the client shape actual SA work. Thereby, it unravels the SA work concealed behind SA statements.

This study aims to review the literature on non-financial information (NFI) assurance including external assurance of sustainability reports (SRA) and integrated reports (IRA). The objectives are as follows: provide an overview of academic research; understand the nature of NFI assurance engagements by organising the literature around the five key elements of an assurance engagement; develop a framework for understanding NFI assurance; and provide directions for future research.

The study undertakes a structured literature review of 179 articles published from 1999 to 2023.

The review identified 324 researchers located in 35 different countries who published 179 articles on SRA and IRA. The researchers, their locations, journals, methods, theories and themes are examined. The literature is structured around the definition of an assurance engagement including a tripartite arrangement, subject matter, a suitable criterion, sufficient appropriate evidence and a written assurance report. A framework for understanding NFI assurance is offered. Avenues for future research, structured around the five elements of an assurance engagement, are presented.

Researchers will benefit from an overview of the literature and guidance on areas for future research. Lecturers can use the findings to develop content for their auditing courses. Reporting managers will benefit from a better understanding of this new form of assurance. Regulators can use this study’s insights to better inform the development of laws and corporate governance codes mandating NFI assurance. Standard setters can use these findings to guide the emergence of the new assurance standards. Assurance practitioners may use this research to inform practice.

The findings may prove useful in addressing capture, which deters NFI assurance from enhancing disclosure credibility and fulfilling its transparency and accountability role. This is to the detriment of the wider society.

The consolidation of the literature around the five key elements of an assurance engagement is unique. The framework devised offers useful insights into the dynamics of assurance generally and NFI assurance more specifically. The study is timely given the new European Union regulations on NFI reporting and assurance and the work of the International Audit and Assurance Standards Board in developing a specialist NFI assurance standard.

The authors examine the effect of greenhouse gas (ghg) assurance on cost of debt, and the effect of board gender diversity on cost of debt, for an international sample of listed companies.

Utilizing firm-level data and a quantile regression approach, this study examines the effects of greenhouse gas assurance and board diversity on cost of debt by employing an international sample of firms during 2015–2021.

The authors find that in firms with a relatively low cost of debt the external assurance of greenhouse gas emissions and gender diversity could significantly contribute to a reduction of cost of debt. Furthermore, other measures of board diversity that are linked with independent directors and skilled directors seem to contribute to an increase of firms' cost of debt in the lower end of distribution. Drawing from the agency theory, the authors showcase the fact that ghg assurance reduces information asymmetry and therefore agency costs such as borrowing costs and signals to the stakeholders a long-term commitment to excellence.

This study is the first that provides insights on the relationship between ghg assurance, board diversity and cost of debt.

This study aims to determine the impacts of the Bahrain Government framework [cyber-trust program (CTP)] on the cybersecurity maturity of government entities and how the CTP can impact the cybersecurity of government entities in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The authors used a quantitative and qualitative approach. The data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with the information technology experts in the Bahrain Government entities participating in the CTP. Also, quantitative data was obtained through a questionnaire distributed to relevant people in the information technology field.

The findings of this study suggest that the CTP had a significant impact on the cybersecurity assurance of the government entities that participated in the CTP; it increased the employees’ awareness, reduced the number of cyberattacks and optimized the available resources. The findings also highlighted the role of top management in the success of the implementation of the CTP. The results also ensure that the CTP’s maturity model affected the cybersecurity compliance of an organization and the implementation of cybersecurity policies and controls.

This study enhances cybersecurity researchers’ and practitioners’ understanding of the impact of the CTP and its components and evaluates its influence on Bahrain’s cybersecurity assurance.

This study implies that to achieve better cybersecurity, managers should focus on implementing the policies and controls provided by cybersecurity frameworks to enhance cybersecurity assurance.

This study aims to investigate a mediated-effects model of organizational support and citizenship behaviour. The model proposes organizational support as an antecedent of citizenship behaviour and commitment to change (CTC) as a mediator in the organizational support–citizenship behaviour relationship.

Cross-sectional survey data were collected from university faculty (n = 221) and analyzed using structural equation modelling.

The findings showed that organizational support significantly contributes to increased citizenship behaviour and commitment of university faculty to program accreditation as an enterprise change process. The authors conclude that university-level organizational support shapes faculty’s CTC both directly and indirectly. The findings have significant practical implications for higher education institutions (HEIs) where new practices that aim at improving institutional effectiveness are embraced.

The study is cross-sectional (i.e. one-time data collection), which restricts the ability to make generable inferences about cause-and-effect relationships. Although the authors tested a model, longitudinal research is needed to unpack the processes of organizational support, commitment and citizenship behaviour. During enterprise change management, organizations work tirelessly to build and maintain citizenship behaviour. Therefore, considering citizenship behaviour in relation to other processes over time is important. However, relying on one source of data may represent another limitation, which increases concerns about common method bias in the current investigation.

The study findings offer a number of implications to HEIs in contexts where accreditation is perceived as an enterprise change process. Universities, similar to any other organizations, rely consistently on methods and mechanism through which employees’ professional performance, engagement and involvement can be enhanced. Accreditation has always been examined by exploring externally focused variables such as global reputation, organizational prestige and international prominence. The present study, however, draws attention to how perceived organizational support (POS) may be an equally important lever that needs to be considered before accreditation is introduced in HEIs. University chancellors, deans and other university leaders can directly influence organizational support by creating a system that weighs the extra work needed, the human resources and the incentives, and developing a plausible action plan.

It is unlikely that all faculty members will maintain quality relationship with the university leadership and immediate leaders such as department chairpersons or the college dean. This unlikelihood increases during crisis and change time. The study findings showed that POS contributes significantly to organizational citizenship behaviour. Therefore, it could be argued that the resistance to change that tends to be associated with accreditation can be mitigated by showing employees that support is accessible and attainable from up-line and immediate leaders. The findings suggest that commitment serves as an integral mediating mechanism between organizational support and citizenship behaviour. Indeed, commitment can be fully examined in practice from the perspective of its three-pronged structure (i.e. affective, continuance and normative). The findings provide credence to the notion that accreditation as an enterprise change process cannot be achieved without employee commitment and organizational support.

As a result of adopting globalized techniques, HEIs in Arab nations have undergone significant changes. In the Arab context, the adoption of academic program accreditation in HEIs has been seen as an enterprise change process with both supporters and detractors. In other words, implementing new systems or procedures results in changes that might upend personnel at any given organization. Therefore, it is contended that how well an organization responds to resistance to change will likely depend on the interaction of organizational, contextual and individual-related characteristics.

This paper aims to critically evaluate the evolution of Assurance of Learning (AoL) in business education and identify gaps and responsibilities in higher institution landscapes moving into the future. This comes amidst increasing structural reforms, an increasingly digitalised world, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and wider scrutiny of graduate competencies for job readiness.

A systematic literature review comprising 27 journal articles published between 2018 and 2022 is the methodology used in this research. This approach is justified as it provides a recent synopsis of current trends on AoL and encompasses the changes over the course of the COVID-19-induced higher education landscapes.

The systematic literature review revealed a strong flavour for AoL measurement through the students' perspectives, with little emerging from faculty insights. Only six out of the 27 articles were framed in a non-English speaking background, revealing that most studies were still concentrated in a US or English environment. Also, while papers on AoL have increased in numbers from 2018 to 2022, there remains scant literature on AoL measurements related to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent digital technologies, and how these would have changed given the rapid shift to online or hybrid environments.

A comprehensive review of AoL literature from 2018 to 2022 is undertaken through Leximancer, which reveals conceptual and relational ties between core themes and concepts of interest. The findings inform business school leaders of the current state of AoL processes, by combining the views of students, faculty and managers.

The purpose of this study is to examine both the responses of auditees to corporate governance audit (CGA) regulation and the practices of CGA auditors.

The study used a mixed method. Content analysis of 200 annual and CGA reports was carried out for 13 years, from 2008 to 2021, split into voluntary disclosure and mandatory disclosure periods. Quantitative analysis was also conducted using Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn's tests. Data gathered were interpreted through the lens of isomorphism and Oliver's (1991) strategic responses to institutional processes.

The study revealed that in the voluntary disclosure period, auditees responded mainly with acquiescence, motivated by mimetic isomorphic pressure. In the mandatory disclosure period, auditee responses ranged from acquiescence to dismissal of corporate governance regulation (i.e. coercive isomorphic pressure). Auditor reporting of CGA findings was found to be heterogeneous, suggesting that normative and mimetic isomorphism did not homogenize auditor practices.

The absence of uniform auditee responses to CGA regulation during the mandatory disclosure period suggests that the purpose of mandating the regulation has not yet been achieved and may signal inadequate coercive isomorphic pressure from the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN). Similarly, heterogeneous reporting of CGA findings by corporate governance auditors inhibits the comparability of audit findings, limiting their value for information users.

This study examines corporate governance auditor practices and auditee responses to corporate governance audit regulation.