Intellectual capital and sustainability reporting practices in Uganda

PurposeThe objective of the study is to investigate the association between intellectual capital (IC) and sustainability reporting practices in Uganda. The study further examines how individual IC elements (human, structural and relational capital) affect sustainability reporting practices.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a questionnaire to collect data. Data are analyzed using multiple regression analysis.FindingsResults indicate that IC is significantly associated with sustainability reporting practices. The study also found that human capital and relational capital elements have a positive effect on sustainability reporting practices while structural capital element does not have a significant effect.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few studies that examine sustainability reporting by financial services firms in a country where the capital markets are still in their infancy and the major source of external financing are the banks. Its major contribution lies in its focus on how the key IC components explain variations in sustainability reporting practices among financial service firms in Uganda.

THE EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING (HRA) ON PROFITABILITY: A STUDY OF SELECTED FIRMS QUOTED ON THE NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

This study evaluated the effect of Human Resource Accounting on profitability: A study of selected firm’s quoted on the Nigerian stock exchange. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The population of the study was 116 firms categorized as non-financial services sector. Purposive sampling technique was used and 76 firms were considered which had secondary data information that covered a period of 10years from 2010-2020. The regression analysis/hypothesis testing was done with the aid of linear structural relations LISREL 8.80 student edition. Data were sourced from annual reports and accounts and Nigerian stock exchange fact book 2020. Findings using profitability measure showed that Staff Training and Development cost has a significant positive effect on EBTIDA but no significant positive effect on ROCE of quoted non–financial service firms. . Increment in number of staff has no significant positive effect on EBTIDA but has a positive significant effect on ROCE of quoted non–financial service firms. The study concluded that Human Resource Accounting affects corporate performance of non-financial service firms quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It is therefore recommended among others, that staff training and development has to be a regular program both on-the-job and off-the job tailored towards filling the identified skills and attitude gaps in the company. Also Increment in the number of staff should be encouraged as this will attract more positive effect on ROCE.

Financial service firms in an emerging market

Purpose 10;This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Companies aiming to improve performance should ensure business strategies are customer-oriented. Desired outcomes become likelier still through a strong emphasis on organizational learning and innovativeness that is supplemented by a flexible approach to optimize the use and impact of key resources. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

COMPARING THE VALUE RELEVANCE OF SELECTED ACCOUNTING INFORMATION IN CONSOLIDATED AND SEPARATE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: THE CASE OF NIGERIAN LISTED FINANCIAL SERVICE FIRMS

In a company with a group structure, financial information is presented in two folds via consolidated and separate financial statements. The reporting of the similarly classified elements of financial statements arranged side by side in two columns carrying two different figures may be puzzling. Consequently, investors and other financial information users having two different figures available to them need to be guided as to which set(s) of information they need to make predictions and decisions. This study provides evidence about the comparative value relevance of accounting information for consolidated and separate financial statement of listed financial service firms in Nigeria. The study population is the entire listed financial services firms throughout the period of 2014-2018. Accounting information was represented by earnings per share, book value per share, dividend per share, and cash flow per share. These proxies were regressed against the market price per share. Data for accounting information were sourced from the annual reports of sampled firms and market prices from the Nigerian stock exchange factbook. A census sampling was used after a three-point filter was applied to the original population. The results show generally that both consolidated and separate accounting information is value relevant. However, consolidated accounting information is found to be more value relevant than separate accounting information. The study thus recommends the strengthening of firms’ operations, re-evaluation of the dividend policy, and enhanced implementation of IFRS standards to enhance value relevant accounting information that will be useful to the shareholders in making informed decision and taking adequate actions.

Organizational learning, innovativeness and performance of financial service firms in an emerging market: examining the mediation effects of customer-focused strategy

PurposeThe study investigates the extent to which organizational learning and innovativeness can improve the firms' performance through a customer-focused strategy.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from Indonesian financial service firms using a questionnaire-based survey. The 157 useable survey responses were analysed to test the proposed hypotheses using SmartPLS.FindingsThis study finds that both organizational learning and innovativeness have a positive effect on performance. The effect of organizational learning on performance depends on the variations of the customer-focused strategy. However, innovativeness does not mediate through customer-focused strategy to enhance performance.Practical implicationsIn firms that implement business model innovation, managers should focus on resource flexibility. Where it is responsive, managers need to be concerned with ensuring various uses of existing resources to understand the performance effectively.Social implicationsAs one of the types of dynamic capabilities, organizational learning and innovativeness are also important antecedents of performance.Originality/valueThis study extends the business innovation model from the adaptability of customer-focused strategy. The findings confirm that organizational learning has a prominent role in meeting customer needs for a dynamic market.

Construction of an AI-Driven Risk Management Framework for Financial Service Firms Using the MRDM Approach

The complex problem of risk factors has greatly increased globally due to the quick ever-changing digital era. The development of suitable techniques for facilitating the performance of risk management in the financial service domain is thus an urgent task, especially in today’s highly turbulent business environment. The development of such techniques involves many factors like the classical multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, but too many factors surrounding the users will confuse them and lead to improper judgments. To deal with this critical task, this study proposes a fusion multiple rule-based decision-making (MRDM) approach that integrates a rule-based technique [i.e., the fuzzy rough set theory (FRST) with particle swarm optimization (PSO)] into MCDM (i.e., DEMATEL, DANP, and modified-VIKOR) techniques that can help decision makers choose the optimal model necessary for achieving aspiration-level effects in a risk control strategy. The results indicate that the improvement priority, which runs in the order as (a) AI algorithm model, (c) AI regulatory and compliance, (d) AI conduct, and (b) AI technology based on the magnitude of the impact, can effectively improve the performance of AI-driven risk management for financial service firms.

Identifying Decisive Socio-Political Sustainability Barriers in the Supply Chain of Banking Sector in India: Causality Analysis Using ISM and MICMAC

The banking sector often plays a crucial role in the improvement of infrastructure and economy of any country. In many emerging economies, it is apparent that a wide variety of social and political issues are related to the associated supply chain sustainability of financial service firms. Although such sustainability and its implementation issues have largely been addressed in existing research literature and in practice for many years, the attention towards socio-political sustainability aspects has been quite limited. Thus, this study attempted to explore the determinants for improving socio-political sustainability in financial service firms. Through adopting the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), performing an exhaustive literature review, and conducting semi-structured interviews with the decision-makers of the service firms, nine key barriers for socio-political sustainability were first identified in this study. Then, the influence relationships of the key barriers were assessed by 15 experts. During the assessment process, the interrelationships and their dependence powers among key barriers were analyzed using the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) methods. The assessment results show that among the studied barriers, “antisocial considerations”, “unstable political climate”, and “lack of political coherence” are the decisive barriers that affect the socio-political sustainability in the supply chain of financial service firms. The knowledge in understanding and reducing these decisive barriers can provide service sector practitioners, especially those with limited resources, the enhanced capability to conduct better planning and designing of effective and continuous improvement programs, so as to win over new consumers and retain existing clients by offering sustainable services.

Marketing Islamic Financial Services: A Review, Critique, and Agenda for Future Research

Islamic finance has experienced rapid growth globally, surpassing the USD 2 trillion mark in 2017. As a result, the literature related to Islamic finance and banking is rather rich. Despite the richness of the literature, our knowledge of the marketing issues related to Islamic finance is modest and somewhat ambiguous. Therefore, we review several decades of research about the Islamic finance in various parts of the world. We identify and discuss three main research themes that draw on different conceptualization and theoretical lenses. After synthesizing their respective findings, we propose several avenues for future research that integrate these three research themes with the goal of developing a more nuanced understanding of Islamic finance and its marketing. While we believe that our review will mainly serve as a crucial reinvigoration and launch point for future research on Islamic finance marketing, it is also of great practical benefit for policymakers of various countries and especially managers of financial service firms interested in marketing Islamic banking and financial services to their customers.