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This paper aims to examine the processes of sustainability reporting assurance (SRA) and the influence they have on shaping perception from disclosures. Given the evidence of inconsistencies and ambiguities in assurance processes, this paper examines how legitimacy is attained and maintained at different stages of SRA.

Evidence collected from 23 semi-structured interviews with assurance providers (APs), consultants, professionals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (non-APs) was used to conduct a thematic analysis from the perspectives of interviewees.

APs and non-APs are united in recognising the value of SRA, although, perspectives on transparency between the two groups differ. Experience and industry knowledge are essential to SRA delivery with non-APs preferring accounting APs. Nevertheless, non-APs are concerned about the role of companies in deciding assurance scope, as it can affect scrutiny. APs favour data accuracy (as opposed to data relevance) assurance due to team dynamics and internal review influences, with the latter also restricting assurance innovation. APs are interested in accessing better evidence and stakeholder engagement evaluations. Providing advisory services was not rejected by all APs. The perspectives of APs and non-APs demonstrate how progress in SRA has gained pragmatic legitimacy with noticeable gaps that serve to undermine attainment of moral legitimacy.

SRA is a developing practice that will adopt changes as it continues to mature; some of these changes could impact findings in this research. General perspectives on SRA were sought from interviewees, this affected the ability for an in-depth focus on any of the range of interesting SRA issues that arose over the course of the research. Interviews were conducted with relevant parties in the SRA space that operate in the UK. Perspectives from parties outside the UK were not solicited.

Companies make an important decision to commission SRA. Findings in this research have highlighted specific non-APs issues of concern that can be useful in structuring operations and reporting regimes to facilitate assurance procedures. The findings will also be helpful to APs as they can direct more emphasis on stakeholder concerns towards demonstrating greater stakeholder accountability. Regulatory and standard setters can enact appropriate policies that can potentially drive the practice forward for assessment of cognitive legitimacy.

The findings provide relevant account of stakeholder voices on the quality of corporate disclosures that has a direct effect on the wellbeing of communities and sustainability of societies. Collective stakeholder input on expectations can shape sustainability discourse.

This research demonstrates the applicability of financial audit quality indicators in SRA processes, extends the debate around the effectiveness of new audit fields and highlights the challenges of maintaining legitimacy with different audiences.

There is no such thing as a truly centralized or decentralized management system. With regard to universities, most of the key areas in universities are centralized, e.g. finance, personnel, curriculum, management and quality. These key areas will exhibit a higher impact on learning and research by maintaining the appropriate balance between centralization and decentralization approaches. The purpose of this paper is to study the key features of balanced management implemented within the internal quality assurance system at the University of Bahrain. Areas of such balance will be explained while showing the pros and cons of each management approach.

In this paper, both quantitative and qualitative surveys were used to study this balanced approach.

The centralization approach at the university maintained systematic compliance through the development of policies and procedures, quality structure and a clear framework for quality enhancement. Centralization ensured consistency in quality, programmes and activities. It also maintained diffusion of innovation, for example, sharing and transferring the knowledge of international accreditation practices to other colleges. The balance of the centralized with the decentralized management approach provided additional advantages. For example, the management shared the vision of decentralization to raise the level of responsibility and accountability. The management provided an acceptable level of authority to take on spot decisions; hence, building expertise at the decentralized levels. However, this would require support and capacity building to ensure directly responsible persons, who can take on spot decisions. The ownership of the self-improvement cycles was implemented at the level of the departments and colleges.

This study showed that this balanced management had a great influence to maximize the benefits of the internal quality assurance (IQA) system, as it showed that 71.4 and 67.3 per cent of the academic and administrative staff, respectively, found that the IQA system was effective.

This balanced approach would guide the universities to enhance its quality system by organizing its structure, processes and systems in a harmonized nature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key factors that affect consumer redemption intention toward mobile coupons recommended in social network sites (SNS).

A research model that integrates recommendation trust, positive utilities, and negative utilities of coupon redemption is developed. With the important role of trust in social recommendation taken into consideration, the key drivers of recommendation trust were analyzed in the model. Data were collected from 210 users with mobile coupon recommendation experience in one of the largest SNS (i.e. WeChat) in China. The authors used partial least squares technique to analyze the model.

Recommendation trust and positive utilities (economic benefits and perceived enjoyment) positively affect the intention of mobile coupon redemption. Perceived risk, as a negative utility, negatively influences coupon redemption intention. In addition, swift trust (structure assurance, perceived similarity, trust propensity, and expertise of the recommender), knowledge-based trust (familiarity with the retailers), and emotion-based trust (social tie strength) are key drivers that promote recommendation trust.

While prior research investigated mobile coupon redemption behavior in which coupons were issued by merchants, limited research analyzed consumer responses toward mobile coupons in social recommendation. This study examines the effects of recommendation trust, positive utilities, and negative utilities on mobile coupon redemption in the context of social recommendation and recognizes the key drivers of recommendation trust.

Draws on contrasting epistemological stances with regard to quality enhancement in the context of higher education and develops the work of Schon (1987), Fish (1992) and Bond (1996, 1998) concerning the technical‐rational view of professionalism and the more generous notion of professional‐artistry. Identifies how these ideas can be useful in the analysis and design of processes for organisational self‐assessment and is based on participatory action research being conducted in a UK university preparing for a major Government quality review in the year 2000. Two cases are presented, each based on the key assumptions and foundations which underpin one of the two contrasting paradigms. Concludes by exploring the key issues of conjunction and disjunction between the two paradigms of organisational self‐assessment, and proposes a framework within which the two approaches can co‐exist.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the need for knowledge management (KM) in the teaching‐learning process in technical educational institutions (TEIs) in India, and to assert the impact of information technology (IT) based KM intervention in the teaching‐learning process.

The approach of the paper is basically conceptual and descriptive. The paper studies the role of KM in facilitating knowledge sharing among stakeholders in TEIs in India and elaborates on the need for knowledge management in the teaching‐learning process. A KM framework for enhancement of knowledge sharing by the use of shared intellectual repositories (IRs) is proposed for the enhancement of teaching and learning in technical educational institutions in India.

The authors value the impact that KM can have in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in TEIs, and underscore the need for credible research into the benefits and challenges that the implementation of IT‐based KM intervention will provide.

The paper emphasizes the urgent need for improvement in quality of education in TEIs in India using the tools and processes of knowledge management. The importance of the proposed framework lies in augmenting the teaching‐learning process, improving productivity, enhancing communication among academia, researchers and professionals, enhancing student perception and understanding of subjects, and providing a common platform for pooling individual knowledge towards a common knowledge base.

The paper helps academicians to understand the importance of IT‐supported KM concepts, tools and practices towards quality teaching and learning. It provides useful inputs to TEIs, which must recognize that implementation of KM will influence knowledge sharing among faculty, researchers, practitioners, experts, professionals and students and enable quality education for students. Furthermore, the development of an IT‐based KM system will facilitate the promotion of institutional value in the competitive academic society. However there exists the need to evaluate the proposed framework in TEIs in India.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to reveal the opinions of the auditors, academicians, and institutions that published integrated reports regarding the development and execution of the assurance process of integrated reports.

Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose, interviews were conducted using qualitative research technique to determine awareness about integrated reporting and combined assurance. Within the scope of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six auditors, five academicians, and five workers in institutions that published integrated reports. Qualitative data analysis method was used to analyze the data.

Findings: As a result of the research, combined assurance process criteria were proposed in the integrated reports which in line with the opinions of the participants.

Originality/value: Institutions around the world are increasingly publishing integrated reports. However, when institutions publish integrated reports, there is no clear standard or any guidance on how to ensure the reliability of these reports. It is seen that AA1000, ISAE3000, GRI Standards, and some local standards are used to provide assurance. At this point, the combined assurance model can be used for the reliability of the information in the integrated reports. Integrated reporting and combined assurance are still relatively new concepts in Turkey. Furthermore, this study is important in terms of the lack of studies on how to provide combined assurance for integrated report when scanned related literature in Turkey. Although readily integrated reporting continued in Turkey, it continues to be an area of application is still under development. In particular, the research reflects the level of integrated reporting awareness and how to ensure assurance of these reports.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of external assurance on the level of voluntary corporate climate change disclosures by Finnish firms.

The sample of this study includes 228 firm-year observations over the period 2008–2015 for listed Finnish companies that have issued sustainability reports and responded to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire at least once during the sample period. The authors conduct a panel regression analysis to study the afore-mentioned linkage. In addition, the Tobit regression model is also estimated to check the robustness of our findings.

The findings suggest that assurance has a highly significant positive impact on the level of corporate climate change disclosures even after controlling for the effect of a number of control variables. Moreover, among the control variables, firm size and asset age are found to have significant effect on the extent of carbon emissions disclosure. Furthermore, the additional analysis reveals that the type of assurance providers (accounting firms vs non-accounting firms) and the type of financial auditors (Big4 financial auditors vs non-Big4 financial auditors) do not influence the level of climate change disclosure of assured companies.

This research is subject to certain limitations. First, the source of the data used in this research is the CDP database which has limitations in that it is a voluntary disclosure process where all the observations collected are self-reported by the responding firms. This may bias the reported findings. Second, our sample includes only listed companies and hence the results might have limited explanatory capacity for unlisted firms.

By using the results of this research, corporate managers will be able to reduce the information asymmetry between various stakeholders and them through disclosure of accurate, reliable and credible environmental information. Such disclosures will, in turn, allow socially responsible investors to choose eco-friendly investments and will thus enable them to make appropriate investment decisions.

Research on the external assurance-corporate climate change disclosure nexus is scarce. This study addresses this gap in the nonfinancial disclosure assurance literature by demonstrating that external assurance increases the level of voluntary corporate climate change disclosure. Drawing on stakeholder-agency theory, this study views external assurance as a monitoring structure that potentially curbs the monitoring problem between corporate managers and other stakeholders and increases the amount of climate change disclosures making a possible avenue for the reduction of the information asymmetry between them.

This paper aims to critically examine the quality of professional doctorates (PDs) from the perspective of programme supervisors in terms of how quality assurance provisions have to meet their expectations.

The study employed an interpretative approach, using semi-structured interviews and online semi-structured questionnaire to generate data from 25 programme supervisors across universities in the UK. Data analysis and interpretation were carried out using the interactive data analysis approach (Miles and Huberman, 1994), the “bottom–up” approach to data analysis (Creswell, 2012) and the interpretative strategy recommended by Mason (2002). Four themes emerged from the data that encapsulated programme advisors’ perspectives: characteristics of supervisors; opportunities in institutional quality assurance provision; challenges in quality assurance process for PDs; and supervisors’ views on how quality assurance in PD can be enhanced.

Quality assurance provisions have not adequately provided for the unique characteristics of PDs owing to a number of issues including lack of clarity on the philosophy and focus of PDs and conflicting perspectives among PD supervisors relating to what should ideally constitute a quality assurance process for PDs. This paper argues that to develop a relevant and robust quality assurance provision for PDs, it would be essential to ensure that the PD fundamental philosophy and focus are coherently explained. In addition, it is crucial to ensure that quality assurance provisions cover not only the academic rigor of higher level learning but also the value and potential impact of outcomes on practice and the professions. The paper also highlights a list of useful suggestions from supervisors on how to enhance quality assurance.

The research identifies a number of issues confronting quality assurance in PDs and the need for academics and policymakers to work together to deal with these to achieve the full value in PDs. As the research was based on a sample of 25 supervisors in a conference, it would be difficult and unsustainable to generalise. Hence, further research using large sample sizes of supervisors and other stakeholders based on whole programmes would be useful to achieve a sustained understanding of how quality assurance provisions of PDs have to meet expectations of the professions and professional contexts.

To get the practical value and benefits of PDs, all stakeholders (academics, policymakers and professionals) would need to work together to ensure that appropriate quality assurance processes are developed to reflect the unique nature of the programmes.

The paper provides a critical perspective to the current debate on quality assuring PDs from the perspective of PD supervisors who have generally been left out. It highlights issues related to quality assuring PDs, the misalignment between quality assurance provisions and the philosophy and expectations of PDs, and suggests ways through which these can be appropriately addressed to enhance quality assurance in PDs. The main contribution from this research is that it brings to the fore what supervisors, who are a part of the major players in the PD process, think about the current state of quality assurance and what can be done to make it more effective.

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 purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the quality assurance system IKGym (Quality Management System for Gymnastics Clubs), on professionalisation, homogenisation and organisational performance in a sample of gymnastics clubs affiliated to the Flemish Gymnastics Federation.

Data were drawn from a sample of 55 non-profit local Flemish gymnastics clubs, evaluated twice by IKGym between 2004 and 2010. Using a longitudinal analysis of quantitative data of the IKGym data set a paired samples t-test was conducted to measure the impact of IKGym on the sample of gymnastics clubs. Besides, the Pitman-Morgan test was conducted to measure if the gymnastics clubs have become more isomorphic because of IKGym.

First, the results identify different levels of progression towards professionalisation between various quality and performance targets of the gymnastics clubs and depending on the structural design types of these clubs. Second, it was found that during the organisational change the sample of clubs also started to resemble each other more. However, this homogenisation process seems restricted to the organisational management and strategic planning of the clubs and appears especially to clubs belonging to the volunteer structure. Third, the present study also indicates that IKGym has influenced clubs to perform better.

IKGym is considered as a pioneering project where a federation stimulated their clubs to professionalise by means of a system of quality assurance. Several federations and sporting leagues (Deutsche Bundesliga, English Premier League; Belgian Basketballiga, etc.) followed this lead and introduced a similar system to evaluate and direct the management of their clubs.