This study explored the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven decision-making (data-backed insights, risk management, efficiency and speed, predictive analytics, bias mitigation, continuous learning, and auditability) on board accountability within commercial banks in Jordan. It utilized the expanding body of literature on AI governance and corporate accountability (Wirtz et al., 2020; Dwivedi et al., 2023). To achieve this aim, a quantitative methodology was employed, using a self-administered questionnaire completed by 72 individuals from 16 commercial banks in Jordan. Primary data were analyzed using the SPSS software, and it was determined that AI-driven decision-making has the ability to positively influence board accountability within commercial banks and the banking sector in general. Among the adopted sub-variables, it was observed that AI-driven decision-making helps minimize bias if organizations use special AI algorithms for analyzing large amounts of data and producing conclusions from them. By adopting AI-driven decision-making, organizations will be in a better position to enhance their governance system, improve transparency, and improve the overall perception of stakeholders in the banking industry.
This study examines whether and how corporate board characteristics affect firms’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Although prior studies have identified various external and firm-level determinants of ESG performance (Liang & Renneboog, 2017), relatively limited attention has been devoted to the role of board characteristics as key internal governance mechanisms shaping corporate sustainability. Using a panel dataset of 1,722 non-financial firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) and the Taipei Exchange (TPEx) over the period 2016–2024, this study employs correlation analysis and multiple regression to investigate the effects of board independence, board size, female director representation, directors’ professional expertise, educational attainment, and board tenure on firms’ ESG performance. The empirical results indicate that board characteristics exert heterogeneous effects across the environmental, social, and governance dimensions. Specifically, larger boards and directors with higher educational attainment and longer tenure are generally associated with superior ESG performance, whereas independent directors, female directors, and directors with finance, law, or accounting expertise exhibit mixed effects across individual ESG pillars.
Corporate boards are increasingly expected to provide transparent oversight of cybersecurity risk; however, formal governance structures do not necessarily translate into substantive accountability. Building on institutional and legitimacy perspectives (Suchman, 1995; Marquis & Qian, 2014), this study examines the quality of cybersecurity governance disclosure (CGD) and the extent to which disclosures reflect symbolic compliance rather than substantive accountability. Using a hand-collected balanced panel of 70 Saudi Exchange-listed firms (350 firm-year observations) covering 2020–2024, the study develops a CGD index based on 20 disclosure items and introduces a boilerplate ratio to distinguish generic disclosure from firm-specific, verifiable reporting. The findings reveal a mean CGD index of 19.59 and a mean boilerplate ratio of 0.785, indicating that CGD remains heavily dominated by symbolic compliance. The COVID-19 shock significantly increased boilerplate disclosure, highlighting the fragility of voluntary governance reporting under systemic stress. In contrast, board size, Big 4 auditor engagement, and firm size show limited explanatory power for disclosure substantiveness. The study contributes to board governance literature by introducing a portable measure of disclosure quality and providing evidence that governance structures may create an appearance of accountability without necessarily generating substantive transparency.
This study aims to examine the influence of internal corporate factors, namely earnings management, capital intensity, and financial distress, on tax avoidance, with the audit committee as a moderating variable. The dependent variable, tax avoidance, is measured using the effective tax rate (ETR) (Julianty et al., 2023). The research utilizes panel data from 586 non-financial companies listed on the stock exchanges of ASEAN-5 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines) over the 2019–2023 period. The methodology employed is panel data regression with control variables including inflation rate, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the COVID-19 pandemic, and company size. The results show that earnings management, capital intensity, and financial distress have a positive effect on tax avoidance, consistent with the hypothesis. Furthermore, the audit committee does not moderate the relationship between the independent variables and tax avoidance. These findings indicate that investment in fixed assets plays a role in corporate tax avoidance, particularly in countries with tax incentive structures. This study provides implications for policymakers and corporate management in designing more effective tax compliance strategies.
This study develops and applies a board index (BINDEX) to assess governance quality in municipal-owned entities (MOEs) of Johannesburg and examines how governance patterns relate to financial performance over time. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining structured documentary analysis of integrated reports with the construction of a composite governance index derived from governance indicators, including gender representation, chair workload, board size, age composition, and chief executive officer (CEO) duality. Forty entity-year observations were analysed and compared with financial measures including profit, return on capital employed (ROCE), and the debt-equity (D/E) ratio. The findings indicate descriptive patterns of co-movement between governance indicators and financial metrics, where entities with more stable or improving governance characteristics often coincide with stronger profitability, healthier ROCE, and lower leverage; however, no causal or statistically validated relationship is inferred (de Villiers & Dimes, 2021; Tremml et al., 2022). The study offers a practical diagnostic tool for identifying governance patterns, without asserting causal relationships between governance and performance. By providing a transparent, replicable, and context-sensitive governance measure, the study contributes to organisational-level governance assessment beyond traditional compliance-based approaches.
Modern corporations are characterized by a separation of ownership and control, whereby shareholders delegate decision-making authority to managers, and managers, who are entrusted with other people’s money, may seek to maximize their own benefits rather than those of shareholders (Berle & Means, 1932; Jensen & Meckling, 1976). Shareholders prefer that managers exert effort to improve firm output. However, if managers incur personal costs for providing effort, and that effort is not observable (or inferable) by shareholders, then managers have an opportunity to choose actions that benefit only themselves.
The role of the board of directors in family businesses is always a topic of interest, given that its decisions impact the development of these businesses (Laksana et al., 2024). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze and determine the role of the board of directors in the management of family businesses from a qualitative perspective. The research design was phenomenological-hermeneutic to facilitate the understanding and articulation of the participants’ experiences and perspectives. Theoretical saturation was achieved with fourteen interviewees, whose responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti software. The findings reveal that boards of directors are composed of family members and external professionals, creating a balance between the family’s vision and independent perspectives in a changing environment. Furthermore, the board plays a strategic and advisory role, making key decisions to guide the direction of the business. This research provides relevant evidence on the role of the board of directors in the management of Peruvian family businesses and fills a theoretical gap in a country with a high rate of entrepreneurs. It is concluded that the board of directors is the key to the institutionalization and sustainability of the family business, where the tension between family and business logic remains unresolved for now.
The present study explores and contrasts the commitment-related influence of two distinct educational settings. The aim is primarily to compare transformational leadership and university culture on faculty organisational commitment in two different Chinese higher education institutions, in a Double First-Class university and a Double High vocational college. The study relied on validated and adapted quantitative measures of transformational leadership, university culture, and commitment by utilizing a cross-sectional survey of 400 faculty members at eight purposely chosen institutions. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using analysis of moment structures was used to comparatively evaluate the direct and mediated effects between the two groups. Findings crucially indicate that organisational culture plays a significant intermediary role in Double First-Class universities, amplifying the effect of leadership on commitment (Xuejing, 2022). Conversely, in Double High vocational colleges, transformational leadership, as such, is the predominant source of faculty commitment, whereas culture is secondary (Liu et al., 2025). The results ultimately highlight the situational character of the leadership-culture-commitment relationships and provide useful policy and management implications for the stratified higher education systems.
The audit committee is vital for corporate governance and stakeholder transparency (Alruwaili, 2024; Primasari & Mutmainah, 2026). Utilizing hierarchical regression on a panel dataset of Thai listed companies (2011–2022), this study investigates whether specific audit committee characteristics moderate the negative relationship between family ownership and firm value. The findings reveal that family ownership correlates with lower firm value, with the sharpest declines occurring at higher ownership thresholds. Crucially, while committee independence or frequent meetings alone offer limited protection, their combination effectively mitigates this negative impact, creating a robust governance mechanism that constrains harmful behavior by controlling family members. These results suggest that regulators in family-controlled markets should enforce stricter audit committee mandates. For investors and managers, joint committee independence and activity serve as primary indicators of governance quality. Finally, future research should explore other committee traits—such as financial expertise, gender diversity, and size—and evaluate these dynamics across alternative ownership structures and emerging economies.
This paper aims to assess the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) scores and board size on the audit quality of Nigeria’s listed non-financial firms. The research employs the fixed-effect panel data regression model to test a sample of 39 firms from the Nigerian listed non-financial firms for 12 years, from 2011 to 2022. The research thus adopts an ex-post facto and correlational research design. Secondary data sources were used as the only method of data collection in the study. Thus, the study results reveal that there is a significant and positive relationship between CSR scores and audit quality. Additionally, this research finds that board size helps understand the connection between CSR scores and audit quality with the involvement of governance structure; the results are consistent with the prior empirical works of Jazia and Kachouri (2024) and validate the agency theory (Jensen & Meckling, 1976). Based on these findings, the study recommends that firms strengthen the capacity of their boards through training and capacity-building initiatives. This would enable boards to develop more effective CSR disclosure practices. The study provides implications for academics focusing on the first relationship between CSR scores and audit fees and board size.
This study examines the effect of fraud diamond elements (pressure, opportunity, rationalization, and capability) on earnings management, and analyzes the moderating role of the Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) in Islamic banking. Using a quantitative approach, partial least squares (PLS) analysis was applied to secondary data from Islamic banks over the 2019–2023 period. The findings show that the four fraud diamond elements do not have a significant direct effect on earnings management, which aligns with prior studies emphasizing the dominant role of governance mechanisms in constraining managerial discretion (Alam et al., 2020; Ratmono et al., 2025). However, the SSB significantly moderates the relationship between opportunity and earnings management, indicating its effectiveness in strengthening oversight and limiting opportunistic behavior. In contrast, its moderating effect on pressure, rationalization, and capability is insignificant. These results suggest that while Islamic governance enhances monitoring functions, it is less effective in addressing internal managerial motivations. This study contributes to the integration of agency theory and fraud diamond theory within Islamic finance by positioning the SSB as a key governance mechanism. Practically, it highlights the need to strengthen SSB competence, independence, and institutional integration.
The efficient organization of committees tasked with administrative supervision and risk management within the first-line defense structure is essential for robust corporate governance. This study examines the influence of diversity in first-line defense committees, specifically audit and nomination committees, on business value, as assessed by accounting performance, due to the nascent nature of this technique. The analysis concentrates on essential diversity characteristics, encompassing gender and member nationality. The research analyzes long-established companies in the commodity industry that are publicly traded on the Saudi financial market. Data were gathered from published annual financial reports spanning 2017 to 2022 and evaluated utilizing multiple regression approaches in EViews 10. The results demonstrate the existence of foreign representatives on both audit and nomination committees within the tested firms. Furthermore, the involvement of women in audit committees demonstrates a favorable and statistically significant correlation with business value. Conversely, female presence on nominating committees does not demonstrate a substantial correlation with firm value. These findings highlight the committee-specific impacts of diversity on company value in the Saudi setting. To strengthen the robustness and generalizability of these findings, subsequent research should integrate supplementary governance factors and broaden the analysis to encompass other institutional and economic contexts.
The research examined the influence of board committee attributes, audit committee (AC) and risk management committee (RMC), and external audit quality (EAQ) on earnings management. It also investigated the moderating influence of EAQ. The research used a sample of 61 banks registered in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations (Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman) spanning the years 2010 to 2020. The findings indicated that certain attributes of ACs and RMCs significantly enhanced earnings quality. Moreover, the calibre of external audit serves as an ancillary mechanism to the function of board committees in enhancing the transparency and integrity of financial reporting. Hence, this study offers clear theoretical insights by establishing a comprehensive framework that combines internal and external corporate governance methods to improve earnings quality. This study also offers valuable insights for decision-makers and regulators in the GCC regarding the development of legislation and regulations for board committee formation and the enforcement of stricter standards for external auditing quality.
This study examines how board diversity influences corporate disclosure quality in an emerging transitional economy, with a particular focus on the moderating role of institutional quality. Using panel data from 152 non-financial listed firms in Vietnam over the period 2014-2023, we employ a random-effects logistic regression model to analyze the effects of relation-oriented, task-oriented, and overall board diversity on corporate governance, financial risk, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure. The results reveal that board diversity is negatively associated with disclosure quality, particularly in corporate governance and ESG dimensions, suggesting that diversity may hinder coordination and decision-making in weak institutional environments. However, institutional quality, measured by the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), significantly mitigates these negative effects and enables diverse boards to contribute positively to disclosure practices. These findings highlight the context-dependent nature of board diversity and underscore the importance of institutional conditions in shaping governance outcomes (Klapper & Love, 2004; Labkir et al., 2026). The study contributes to the literature by providing new evidence from Vietnam and offers policy implications for improving board effectiveness and disclosure transparency in emerging markets.
This study examines the influence of board and audit committee characteristics on integrated reporting disclosure among publicly listed firms in five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries during 2020-2024. The study is motivated by the growing importance of integrated reporting in voluntary disclosure environments, where internal governance mechanisms may play a more decisive role in shaping reporting practices (M. Ali et al., 2024). Using purposive sampling, the study analyzes 142 firm-year observations from 46 firms and measures integrated reporting disclosure through content analysis based on the Pistoni et al. (2018) Integrated Reporting Scoreboard. The data are analyzed using panel regression with firm fixed effects and clustered standard errors, supported by alternative model specifications for robustness. The findings show that board independence and audit committee independence have positive and significant effects on integrated reporting disclosure, indicating that independence-based governance mechanisms are more effective in promoting transparency and accountability in integrated reporting. In contrast, board size, board diversity, and board activity do not significantly affect integrated reporting disclosure. The study contributes to the governance-disclosure literature by showing that, in the ASEAN context where integrated reporting remains largely voluntary, independence-related governance mechanisms appear more influential than structural board characteristics in encouraging integrated reporting disclosure.
This study examines the relationship between excessive chief executive officer (CEO) compensation and accounting conservatism. It further investigates the moderating role of family ownership in influencing this relationship within French-listed firms. The study adopts an empirical quantitative approach using a sample of 196 firms listed on the CAC All-Shares index from 2018 to 2025. To address potential endogeneity concerns, the analysis employs the two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression method. The results indicate that higher levels of excessive CEO compensation are associated with lower levels of accounting conservatism, suggesting that highly compensated executives may engage in less prudent financial reporting. Conversely, family ownership is found to enhance accounting conservatism and mitigate the negative impact of excessive CEO compensation on conservative reporting practices. The findings provide valuable insights for regulators, investors, and corporate boards by highlighting the importance of ownership structure in maintaining financial reporting quality and strengthening governance mechanisms. This study contributes to the corporate governance and accounting literature by providing empirical evidence on the interaction between excessive executive compensation, family ownership, and accounting conservatism in the context of the French market, where family-controlled firms are highly prevalent.
This study examines how gender diversity within the board and the audit committee (AC), along with chief executive officer (CEO) gender, influences corporate tax avoidance as a business strategy, with particular emphasis on executive risk preferences. Drawing on agency theory and upper echelons theory, the study conceptualizes tax avoidance as an outcome shaped by governance effectiveness and managerial risk orientation (Dyreng et al., 2010; Hambrick, 2007). Using panel data from 429 observations of firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during 2022-2024 and fixedeffects (FE) regression with firm-clustered robust standard errors, the findings show that greater gender diversity within the board is associated with higher levels of tax avoidance, suggesting that female representation may remain symbolic if it has no real influence on strategic decisions. In contrast, gender diversity within the AC reduces tax avoidance, indicating that competent female participation in oversight roles enhances compliance and strategic discipline. CEO gender shows no significant direct effect. High executive risk-taking weakens the effectiveness of ACs in constraining opportunistic tax strategies. Overall, this study shows that governance needs to be strengthened so that women's presence is not merely symbolic. Gender diversity supports effective governance only when accompanied by substantial authority, relevant expertise, and a risk-aware organizational culture.
This study examines how audit committee (AC) competencies influence real earnings management (REM) in Malaysian publicly listed companies (PLCs) during a period of significant governance reform (2017 to 2019). Using secondary data from annual reports and financial databases, the analysis revealed that different forms of AC expertise exert divergent effects on financial reporting oversight. Financial expertise associated with Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) membership (ACMIA) consistently constrains REM, highlighting the importance of statutory accreditation, professional ethics, and jurisdiction-specific regulatory knowledge. In contrast, financial expertise without MIA membership (ACFIN) is positively associated with REM, suggesting that technical expertise alone may be insufficient to ensure effective governance when it is not institutionally embedded within the local regulatory environment. Digital competence within the AC (ACDIGI) exhibits a weaker but significant negative relationship with REM, indicating its emerging importance in increasingly digitalised reporting systems. By distinguishing between MIA-accredited and non-MIA financial expertise and introducing digital competence as an additional dimension of AC capability, this study extends agency theory, resource dependence theory, and Masli et al.’s (2018) multidimensional board effectiveness framework. The findings highlight the importance of aligning professional expertise with institutional context and technological capability to strengthen financial oversight and enhance reporting integrity in emerging markets.
This research investigates the relationship between external auditor independence and the financial reporting quality (FRQ) in the banking sector of Jordan. It specifically examines the mediation role of corporate governance, environment, auditor tenure, fees, size of the auditing firms, and bank-related factors. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach is used to analyze survey findings based on 287 responses from financial experts of commercial and Islamic banks. Findings have found that auditor independence has a strong and direct positive association with FRQ. Corporate governance and environments are found to have significant mediations, suggesting that auditor independence is more effective within strong institutional environments. However, auditor tenure has been found to have a non-linear moderation effect. It implies that moderate tenure increases FRQ, while excess engagement weakens independence. Findings also negate any association of fees, size of auditing firms, and bank-related factors (Nguyen et al., 2023; Okoh & Audu, 2024). Research contributes to theories of agency and institutions by placing a strong emphasis on the importance of governance and environments in facilitating auditor independence. These findings also underscore the importance of implementing effective regulatory practices in developing countries worldwide.
In light of the growing concern of governments and society about aggressive tax behavior, which poses ethical questions and conflicts with their interests, this study is designed to investigate the relationship between board diversity and aggressive tax planning in commercial banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It also examined the moderating effect of digital transformation on the former relationship. The study adopted 814 observations from GCC countries' banks from 2010 to 2020. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) were used to test the hypotheses. Normative (OLS) and dynamic (System-GMM) estimates indicate a consistent pattern whereby board diversity, specifically multiple memberships, gender diversity, and financial expertise, is linked to a significant decrease in the intensity of aggressive tax planning in GCC banks. These findings confirm that combining effective governance with digital transformation can constitute a dual strategy to enhance tax compliance, especially in emerging market environments experiencing rapid developments in digital infrastructure, such as the GCC countries.
