PurposeThis longitudinal research paper is based on a case study analysis of two Danish life science companies. The general purpose of the paper is to uncover changes in the reporting practices of ...experienced integrated reporting (IR) reporters. In order to meet that objective, a pragmatic constructivist paradigm was applied to make a better understanding of factors affecting disclosure decisions in the integrated reports.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a qualitative methodological approach. It is based on content and discourse analyses of the written documents, including the integrated reports, auditors' statements and independent assurance reports.FindingsThe model developed in this study reflects a real phenomenon related to the development of IR practices. The pragmatic constructivist paradigm explains how practitioners perceive business reality, act in the face of changing facts and values and make decisions regarding material disclosures.Research limitations/implicationsThe investigation of only two companies may be perceived as a limitation of this study. However, a small number of life science companies have prepared integrated reports for a long time. The selected organisations are the pioneers in that field and have drawn up integrated reports since 2002 or 2004.Originality/valueThis paper develops an original model of IR “concept in practice”. It considers the regulatory framework regarding materiality in IR through the prism of facts that form a basis for practical work. It also emphasises an impact of a value system and social context on disclosure decisions in integrated reports. In that way, a link between the constructivist paradigm and IR is created.
This paper aims to research the topics related to risk included in non-financial disclosure (NFD) of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and explore factors that influence the risk ...topics ratio in NFD. We applied a content analysis using topic modeling to discover latent risk topics in NFD. Next, with Ward's clustering, we identified four groups of companies with a homogenous risk topic mixture. For causal analysis, to explain the differences in risk topics ratio, we used qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which allowed us to obtain three paths (variable configurations) leading to the high ratio of risk topics in NFD. Our results suggest that companies disclosing risk information extensively in their NFDs concentrate almost solely on social risk matters. In contrast, companies talking briefly about environmental and social (E&S) risk prepare their NFDs with a more balanced distribution of E&S topics and their financial implication. In general, the companies' exposure to E&S risk and the use of NFD standards and guidelines as well as the type of NFD impact the space dedicated to risk information. This paper contributes to academics and regulators, filling the gap about risk disclosure in the NFD, identifying the nature of corporate risk disclosures, and upgrading research about determinants of risk information in non-financial disclosure.
This paper aims to propose a conceptual model that synthesizes the existing findings concerning universities as culture change agents for sustainable development. The model could serve as a guidance ...on how universities might get involved in the pro-SD activities. It also underlines the prerequisite of the quality culture that should be introduced within all the activities of universities to successfully act as culture change agents for SD. This paper builds upon the holistic and inter-disciplinary approach to demonstrate that SD does not happen in isolation and that the role of universities in its creation is significant. This study includes a literature review to contextualize the impact of universities on culture and their potential role in SD. The conclusions stemming from the literature review materialize in the proposal of the conceptual model of the university as the culture change agent for SD. The elaborated framework responds to the need for greater clarity, ordering and systematization of the role of universities in the processes of initiating, promoting and modelling the SD-oriented changes while appreciating the role of culture as an enabler, means of social change and a result of SD-focused interventions. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a novel perspective on the assumed interrelations between university, its quality culture, university main operations such as education, research and engagement with the society as well as the culture and the agency of stakeholders in the context of meeting the world’s current demands without compromising the needs of future generations.
Developed market economies demonstrate a growing interest in issues concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its effects, confirmed by the sizeable theoretical and empirical literature on ...this issue. A substantial research proves also the positive relation between CSR commitment and financial results of banks in mature markets. However, there is less evidence on CSR existence and its impact in other geographical areas, especially in the research concerning Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). In our study we analyze the interrelation between being socially responsible and tangible financial outcome (Corporate Financial Performance—CFP) of banks in the CEEC. The aim is also to empirically verify the relation between efficiency of corporate social-environmental performance (CSP) and the efficiency of CFP for CEEC banks. In our study, we analyze the financial and CSP data of the biggest public banks in CEEC. The researched period is 2012–2016. The empirical part analyzes the interrelation between CSP and CFP based on the panel regression. Moreover, in order to evaluate the CSP efficiency and the CFP efficiency we use the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. The empirical results reveal that in case of banks in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region being socially responsible is not reflected in the bottom line. The financial condition of the banks also does not impact the CSR engagement. Our study confirms, however, that CEEC banks with better financial efficiency have higher efficiency of CSR activities. The conclusions may lead to the improved decision-making processes concerning CSR activities and their communication in banks in CEEC.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a crucial role in societies as they enhance the sustainable development of nations. In a context of increasing competition and financial difficulties in ...higher education institutions, the loyalty of students, faculty and administration staff as well as institutional reputation are key factors for survival and success. They are built upon trust and high quality of services rendered by HEIs. The intentional development of trust serves the purpose of enhancing the quality culture in higher education. The concept of quality culture has become a natural successor of quality management and quality assurance in universities presenting a new perspective for viewing quality at HEIs—as a combination of structural and managerial with cultural and psychological components. This paper provides an elaboration of a novel Trust-Based Quality Culture Conceptual Model for Higher Education Institutions which presents the perceived interconnections between trust and quality culture at HEIs. It can form a source for an inquiry process at HEIs, thus contributing to better contextual diagnosis of the stage where HEI is in the process of building the quality culture based on trust. The findings of this study are important in better understanding the quality culture development in HEIs that is based on trust, loyalty and reputation. It may have an impact on the decision-making processes concerning HEIs’ management. The proposed model contributes to the need for greater clarity, ordering and systematization of the role of trust in the processes of quality culture development.
Purpose> This study aims to examine intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) on Twitter by 60 of the world’s largest companies and explains the main themes communicated to stakeholders. The second ...objective is to determine which topics provoke most stakeholders’ reactions. Design/methodology/approach> The authors perform content analysis on more than 42,000 tweets to examine ICD practices along with the reactions of stakeholders in the form of retweets and “favorites” toward the information disclosed. Findings> Intellectual capital (IC) is an important theme in corporate disclosure practices, as more than one-third of the published tweets refer to IC. The world’s largest companies focus on relational capital information, followed by human and structural capital. The main IC themes disclosed were management philosophy, corporate reputation and business partnering. Tweets related to IC are of greater interest to stakeholders than other tweets and provoke more reactions. There is no complete consistency between the topics most intensively disclosed by companies and those that elicit the most vivid responses from the addressees. Practical implications> This study offers an understanding of the world’s largest companies’ practices that refer to ICD via social media and has implications for organizations in the creation and use of communication channels when developing a dialogue with stakeholders on topics regarding IC that may lead to better management of IC performance. Originality/value> This paper is a response to the call for studies on ICD via social media, which is strongly highlighted in the recent literature concerning future research on IC and until now was almost absent in the field of business units. This research provides in-depth insights into the use of Twitter to disclose IC elements and indicates which fields and topics of this disclosure provoke stakeholders’ reactions, which is a novelty in ICD studies.
This paper presents a technique for sentiment measurement in many languages. The method allows researchers to efficiently analyze corporate documents, management reports, and financial statements ...using python. When the texts are written in many languages, the method extracts equivalent cross-linguistic sentiment features that can be used for statistical analysis or machine learning. We use Open Multilingual WordNet, a large lexicon organizing words into semantic groups, as the knowledge base about word equivalence in more than 200 languages. We experiment with a parallel English-French corpus and find that our senitment measures across the two languages are comparable. The method produces a consistent classification of positive and negative texts in two languages, and sentiment measure values correlate. The paper provides a detailed account of the method and python code, So that it can be applied to other languages, text mining, quantitative communication studies, and management research.•Method to create equivalent sentiment measures in multiple languages•Based on established lexicons and WordNet•Validated for English and French
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PurposeThis study aims to explore the intelligibility of communication with stakeholders as a result of accrual accounting adoption. It focuses on changes in the use of visual forms and the ...readability of text that occurred immediately after the adoption of accrual accounting in performance reports of Italian public universities.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collect the stakeholder section of performance reports published before and after accrual accounting adoption. Then, the authors use manual and computer-assisted textual analysis. Finally, the authors explore the data using principal component analysis and qualitative comparative analysis.FindingsThis study demonstrates that switching from cash to accrual accounting provokes immediate changes in communication patterns. It confirms the significant reduction of readability and increase in visual forms after accruals accounting adoption. The results indicate that smaller universities especially put effort into increasing intelligibility while implementing a more complex accounting system. This study also finds a relation between the change in readability and the change in visual forms that are complementary, with the exception of several very large universities.Practical implicationsThe findings underline the possibility of neutralising the adverse effects of accounting reform associated with its complexity and difficulties in understanding by the use of visual forms and attention to the document’s readability.Originality/valueThis paper adds a new dimension to the study of public sector accounting from the external stakeholder perspective. It provides further insight into the link between accrual accounting adoption and readability, together with the use of visual forms by universities.
Introduction and aim Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a chronic condition that affects an increasing number of people each year1. Healing the ulceration requires cooperation between patients, specialists ...and scientists in order to achieve satisfactory results. Treating this type of wound is not only a therapeutic challenge1,2,3,4,5,6, but also an economic one, which is why so much scientific research has already been made on this phenomenon2,3. Still scientists continue their quest for new cost-effective alternatives to current therapeutic options that would be consistent with contemporary knowledge and available engineering capabilities in pursuance of creating techniques and new dressings that will accelerate the healing of DFUs2,3,7,8. Factors such as stress, obesity, certain medications, and chronic diseases appear to negatively affect the process of repair 1,9,10,4,6,11. Studies prove that aloe vera gel due to its healing properties, can be considered as a potential dressing that will expedite the mending process of diabetic foot ulceration12,13,14.
In this paper, we performed a literature review of the applicability of aloe vera in the healing process of DFUs.
Materials and methods Searching the available literature, including randomized clinical trials and systematic reviews, we drew on databases focusing on the effects of treatment for diabetic foot ulceration using Aloe vera.
Conclusion: The current scientific research on the use of Aloe vera gel in diabetic foot ulcer treatment indicates that this method is safe, effective and inexpensive2,3. However the difficulty of treatment and the increasing prevalence of this type of wound pose a challenge to finding new solutions and exploring mechanisms in which aloe vera can have a possible role in the wound healing process. Nevertheless, this paper presents a promising impact of Aloe vera gel applicability in the healing process of diabetic foot ulcer.
The purpose of our research is to evaluate the voluntary disclosure strategy and effective communication between issuers and investors on the Polish bond market Catalyst. We conducted a questionnaire ...among issuers on the Catalyst. To evaluate the data and find answers to the research questions, we used the Qualitative Comparative Analysis. As our analysis shows that management board engagement seems crucial for effective communication, we claim that in relatively smaller capital markets, personal engagement of board members in preparing voluntary disclosure should be considered a proxy of a high disclosure strategy quality. We prove that companies use dialogue with investors in private rather than in public to understand their communication expectations. This finding indicates the essential limitations of previous research evaluating relational connectivity through social media. We point out the existence of many paths to achieve a high level of companies’ perception of investors’ voluntary disclosure needs and companies’ relational connectivity regarding voluntary disclosure. We developed a new approach to measuring relational connectivity, which can be successfully applied to other markets and stock exchanges, allowing verification of previous findings and the development of a new approach to conducting research. We claim that it is necessary to put more pressure on the management board’s engagement in preparing the financial report as it is crucial for understanding investors’ voluntary disclosure needs. Our conclusions question the growing societal pressure on engaging in activity in social media as a key concept of effective communication.
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