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This study aims to explore the extent of voluntary corporate governance disclosure in the annual reports of banks in the UAE, operating in an emerging economy in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. It also examines the effect of this non-financial disclosure on bank performance by differentiating conventional and Islamic banks.

This study applies content analysis to explore the extent of voluntary corporate governance disclosure using data collected from the annual reports of all the banks traded on the UAE financial markets from 2003 through 2020. It further examines the potential effect of voluntary disclosure on bank performance using dynamic panel data regressions.

The results indicate a low level of voluntary corporate governance disclosure in the annual reports for most disclosure indices. However, conventional and Islamic banks do not differ significantly. Additionally, the results of the robust dynamic panel data from the two-step generalized method of moments system estimation confirm that voluntary corporate governance disclosure does not affect bank performance significantly.

The findings of this study would benefit the central bank and lawmakers in the UAE in developing a framework for appropriate voluntary disclosure and enhancing the corporate governance framework to improve the quality of annual reports.

This study contributes to the literature on the extent of corporate governance disclosure, as well as its association with bank performance in an emerging economy by differentiating between conventional and Islamic banks.

The study explores the relationship between information overloading and the complexity of reporting. In particular, it investigates whether voluntary information in a firm annual report is associated with its readability. Likewise, it examines how a firm's profitability and earnings management practices impact the nexus of voluntary disclosure and readability.

It uses the annual reports of the Egyptian nonfinancial firms listed in the EGX 100 index from 2010 to 2018. The readability of the annual report is measured automatically using the LIX index, and a predeveloped voluntary disclosure index is used to measure the level of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports.

The results reveal that the readability of annual reports is a negative function of voluntary disclosure, suggesting that Egyptian firms with more voluntary disclosure are likely to have more complex (i.e. less readable) annual reports. Likewise, less profitable firms and firms with earning management practices increase voluntary information in their annual reports, resulting in an adverse impact on their reporting readability.

It focuses only on the annual reports of Egyptian firms and considers a firm’s overall voluntary information rather than a particular area of voluntary disclosure. It introduces a code to measure the readability of Arabic-written texts, which can be applied to different areas of disclosure.

Policymakers in Egypt are encouraged to develop enforceable regulations to control voluntary disclosure in annual reports. Egyptian investors should view the practice of higher voluntary disclosure skeptically as its aim may be to divert attention from a firm's poor performance and earnings management practice.

The study is the first evidence from Egypt on the effect of information overloading, proxied by voluntary disclosure, on the readability of reporting. Likewise, it contributes to methodological development in measuring the readability of Arabic-written annual reports.

Analyzing the 2004 U.S. General Social Survey and Korean General Social Survey, this chapter attempts to show that even similar climates of associationalism in two countries can lead to differential consequences for participatory democracy, depending on the associations’ capacities to foster civic resources. This chapter first examines whether the politically desirable traits of civic virtue and social trust essential to political participation can be developed by associational membership in the United States and Korea. Second, it investigates whether associational membership strengthens, weakens, or leaves unchanged the effects of socioeconomic resources measured by educational attainment and family income on political participation especially among association members in these two countries. The results indicate that voluntary associations in the United States, compared to those in Korea, do a better job of playing the role of civic educator and even of political equalizer. First, associational membership significantly and positively affects civic virtue and social trust in the United States. Second, associational membership does not affect civic virtue and social trust in Korea. Third, the effects of educational attainment and family income on political participation among members are weak in the United States. Fourth, the effects of educational attainment and family income on political participation among members are strong in Korea. Therefore, this chapter concludes that voluntary associations do not contribute to participatory equality in Korea despite its vibrant group-centered culture, whereas their American counterparts are relatively effective in bringing about the expected outcome.

There is a current agitation by community leaders, global leaders and society on the morality aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of firms. The change in policy raises the question of whether moral capital is affected. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether the shift from voluntary to mandatory reporting increases the moral capital of CSR and also whether moral capital affects the firm performance of listed firms in India.

This study examines 800 firm-year observations on the Bombay Stock Exchange (split into 320 firm-year observations for the voluntary period and 480 firm-year observations for the mandatory period). This study uses panel regression with random effect assumptions for data interpretation.

The first findings show that a shift from voluntary to mandatory policy on CSR increases the moral capital value of listed firms in India. The second and third findings show that voluntary reporting of moral capital has no significant association with market performance (stock price returns [SPR]) or firm value (Tobin’s q). The fourth findings show a negative and statistically significant association between mandatory reporting of moral capital and SPR but an insignificant association with Tobin’s q. This study conducted a robustness test, and results show that the previous year 1 and 2 moral capital for voluntary and mandatory periods has no association with SPR and Tobin’s q.

Although prior research has examined the effect of change in policy from voluntary to mandatory reporting on firm performance, little is known about the impact of moral capital on firm performance for the emerging economies, including India.

Prior to widespread social insurance, European governments experimented with a variety of programs to protect workers from income loss due to illness. This paper examines the consequences for worker absenteeism of making sickness insurance coverage voluntary or compulsory. Medical benefits appear to have reduced absenteeism for all workers. The effect of paid sick leave depended on insurance fund membership status. Better-paid workers found it easier to take time off in compulsory than in voluntary funds. Distinctive information problems plagued voluntary systems, and eventually were resolved by rejecting the voluntary ideal and forcing all workers into a single risk pool.

This paper aims to examine the type of firms that voluntarily adopt the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF) and how markets respond to voluntary IIRF adherence.

Analysis of a matched global sample of listed firms that voluntarily adopt the IIRF (IIRF firms) and those that do not (non-IIRF firms). The samples range from 188 to 436 observations as alternative research designs, different matched samples and regression specifications, and several sensitivity analyses were conducted.

In markets where integrated reporting (IR) is not mainstream, voluntary IIRF adoption is more likely for firms with established sustainability practices. Such findings suggest that the IIRF is an incremental innovation for sustainability rather than an innovation that radically changes management and reporting practices. In Japan, where IR is mainstream, results show no observable differences between IIRF firms and non-IIRF firms. Consistent with the determinants results, this paper finds no evidence of associations between voluntary IIRF adoption and the information environment, the cost of equity or firm value. However, the additional analysis provides preliminary evidence suggesting capital market effects may differ for IIRF firms with higher sustainability or market performance.

This study offers useful insights into the current global debate on whether there is value in adopting the IIRF.

This study adds to the limited body of research on the determinants and consequences of voluntary IIRF adoption, offering insights for regulators, practitioners and proponents of IR. This study is the first to provide quantitative evidence of the influence sustainability practices have on voluntary IIRF adoption. Further, the results add to the current global debate on whether there is value in adopting the IIRF. This paper finds that voluntary IIRF adoption has no clear and distinct influence on disclosure practices and capital markets, suggesting there are no additional benefits from prioritising the promotion or adoption of the IIRF over other disclosure forms. Unless there are advancements supporting the implementation of integrated thinking and information connectivity, the potential for the IIRF to improve information quality may be limited to encouraging more non-financial disclosure and transparency in countries where integrated disclosures are not trending.

This study aims to examine the impact of voluntary adoption of integrated reporting on the stock prices of firms in Japan.

The event study methodology was used to analyze the stock market reactions to voluntary integrated report (IR) publication. Abnormal returns were estimated for 1,602 observations of 490 firms publishing IRs in Japan using the market model. The t-test, the Boehmer et al., 1991 test and the generalized sign test examined the significance of the cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs).

The study reveals that the stock market reacts positively to voluntary IR publication by firms, especially in 2019 and 2015. Additionally, it reveals a tendency for higher CAARs around IR publication dates than around corporate social responsibility report publication dates, especially in 2016 and 2015.

The limitations of this study include the possibility of self-selection bias and omitted variable bias.

This study suggests that firms can earn higher abnormal returns in the stock market through environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in IRs, corroborating the recently rising investor interest in voluntary integrated reporting in Japan.

This study contributes to the literature on the value relevance of voluntary adoption of integrated reporting by providing evidence of firms achieving significantly positive abnormal returns around voluntary IR publication dates. There is no published analysis on this topic using multitudes of sample firms using the event study methodology.

Purpose – To analyze the emergence of new organizational forms in the Danish welfare sector.

Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on Niklas Luhmann and Gunther Teubner, the research analyzes governmental documents, policy programs, action plans, and strategic documents.

Findings – A partnering structure has emerged with a new politics of voluntarism, complex forms of integration and new imaginary distinctions between voluntariness and public care. This can usefully be conceptualized as aspects of the stabilization of a “third-order system.” The research identified a number of different managerial strategies for involvement in the system.

Practical and social implications – Social welfare has become a mix of public and civil society values and norms, and extensive resources have been invested from both governmental and nongovernmental sides to build up shared competences for the new forms of partnering-based organization. However, to act according to the new principles of partnering, at the strategic and managerial level, the voluntary organizations have to behave in a schizophrenic manner – as both individual organizations and cooperational partners within the system.

Research implications – The concept of “third-order system” is especially useful in analyzing mixed forms of management in the welfare sector.

Originality – Different forms of radical organizational analysis are combined to develop a notion of “third-order system” in the welfare sector.

Existing reviews of research on voluntary childlessness generally take the form of narrative summaries, focusing on main topics investigated over time. In this chapter, the authors extend previous literature reviews to conduct a systematic review and content analysis of socio-historical and geopolitical aspects of knowledge production about voluntary childlessness. The dataset comprised 195 peer-reviewed articles that were coded and analysed to explore, inter alia: the main topic under investigation; country location of authors; sample characteristics; theoretical framework and methodology. The findings are discussed in relation to the socio-historical contexts of knowledge production, drawing on theoretical insights concerned with the politics of location, representation and research practice. The shifts in the topics of research from the 1970s, when substantial research first emerged, uphold the view of voluntary childlessness as non-normative. With some regional variation, knowledge is dominated by quantitative, hard science methodologies and mostly generated about privileged, married women living in the global North. The implications of this for future research concerned with reproductive freedom are outlined.

We investigate outcomes associated with the turnover of unskilled workers, isolating its effects on revenue, cost, and profit. Little attention from researchers has been given to unskilled workers, a significant portion of the workforce.

This study investigates the relation between turnover among unskilled workers and financial performance using data from 527 hotels owned by the same lodging chain. The workers in our sample are full-time housekeepers and front desk attendants.

We find that the relation between turnover and performance differs by turnover type (voluntary vs. involuntary) and category of unskilled worker, reiterating the need to differentiate between turnover type and the importance of context in studying turnover. We challenge the assumption that voluntary turnover is categorically harmful and our results for front desk attendants support the view that organizations choose turnover levels that maximize performance. We also provide new evidence on the effects of involuntary turnover. Contrary to the established notion that dismissing less able employees should improve performance, we find that involuntary turnover has negative consequences.

Our results demonstrate the importance of distinguishing voluntary turnover from involuntary turnover and the need to include both in models predicting turnover’s performance effects.