bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Malaysian market for audit services: ethnicity, multinational companies and auditor choice
Authors: Che Ahmad Ayoib , Houghton Keith A. , Zalina Mohamad Yusof Nor 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which ethnic association (i.e. Chinese and Bumiputra ownerships) and national issues (i.e. the presence of foreign corporations) influence the audit services market in Malaysia. Specifically, the paper aims to examine the effects of ethnicity and foreign ownership on choice of auditor.Design/methodology/approachTwo logit models are used; the first is to test on ethnic auditor (Chinese/non‐Chinese) choice while the second is related to the choice of quality‐differentiated auditor. The data is obtained from annual reports of the population of the Bursa Malaysia listed companies for both the Main Board and the Second Board for the periods 1993‐1995.FindingsThe logit regressions confirm our prediction of ethnic networking and preferential treatment on the auditor selection process.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation lies on the auditor choice model where the model is developed from a demand perspective, assuming that the auditors are willing to supply services to any client even though it is very unlikely in the real world. The model also assumes that the audit engagement process for foreign‐controlled companies is purely transacted in the Malaysian market. However, foreign multinational corporations might determine the selection of the auditor at the headquarter offices and the Malaysian subsidiaries might simply be directed to engage a given auditor. Another limitation relates to the results of the logit regressions as the study has documented an ethnic association between auditor and auditee rather than establishing a causal relationship.Practical implicationsAn important implication of these findings relates to auditor independence. The Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) has made rules prescribing the code of professional conduct and ethics of public accountants known as the MIA By‐Laws (on Professional Conduct and Ethics) but it seems to neglect the diversity of local culture in addressing independence. Whilst the auditor is divorced from financial and familial interests, the ethnic sentiments might impair auditor independence especially in an audit conflict situation.Originality/valueThe paper provides important insights into the existence of Chinese business practices in Malaysia and auditor selection process in this country.
Service quality, client satisfaction and loyalty towards audit firms
Authors: Ismail Ishak , Haron Hasnah , Nasir Ibrahim Daing , Mohd Isa Salmi 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between audit service quality, client satisfaction and loyalty to the audit firms. SERVQUAL model was used to measure the perceptions and expectations of public listed companies on the services received from audit firms.Design/methodology/approachThe five dimensions of SERVQUAL, i.e. reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness was used to measure the service quality of audit firms. The research was conducted using primary data. Questionnaires were sent to 500 public listed companies listed in Bursa Saham Malaysia for year 2005.FindingsThe public listed companies were satisfied with the tangible dimension but were dissatisfied with the other four dimensions. The most dissatisfied dimension was empathy. Customer satisfaction was found to partially mediate the relationship of reliability and customer loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe small sample size is a limitation of the study. Also, the study examined all services offered by audit firms. A larger sample size and focusing on a particular service would be better as the respondents would then be able to give a more focused answer. Also, the public listed companies were not analysed further into various industry types, size of firm and other corporate attributes to understand their different needs.Practical implicationsThe study defines the attributes of quality services from the clients' perspective. Once the needs are more clearly known and understood, the audit firms will be in a better position to anticipate clients' requirement rather than to react to clients' dissatisfactions.Originality/valueThe paper uses a marketing model, SERVQUAL, to measure the service quality of audit firms.
Board, audit committee, culture and earnings management: Malaysian evidence
Authors: Abdul Rahman Rashidah , Haneem Mohamed Ali Fairuzana 
Published: July 2006

PurposeAims to investigate the extent of the effectiveness of monitoring functions of board of directors, audit committee and concentrated ownership in reducing earnings management among 97 firms listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia over the period 2002‐2003.Design/methodology/approachThe current study employs the cross‐sectional modified version of Jones, where abnormal working capital accruals are used as proxy for earnings management.FindingsThe study reveals that earnings management is positively related to the size of the board of directors. This supports the view that larger boards appear to be ineffective in their oversight duties relative to smaller boards. A possible explanation for the insignificant relationship between other corporate governance mechanisms (independence of board and audit committee) and earnings management is that the board of directors is seen as ineffective in discharging their monitoring duties due to management dominance over board matters. The apparent reason for this phenomenon is attributed to the board of directors' relative lack of knowledge in company's affairs. The study also found that ethnicity (race) has no effect in mitigating earnings management, possibly due to the more individualistic behaviour of the Bumiputra directors. The modernisation of Malaysia and also the increase in Bumiputra ownership of national wealth may have caused the Malays to be more individualistic, similar to their Chinese counterpart.Originality/valueSince, there are relatively few studies conducted in this area specifically among Malaysian firms, this study will broaden the scope by providing empirical evidence of the relationship between various corporate governance characteristics, cultural factors and earnings management.
Information literacy and action research
Authors: Vezzosi Monica 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper presents an overview of the action research methodology and asserts its suitability as an approach to enquiry and practice in the field of information literacy (IL). An experience of action research is briefly presented and some strengths and weaknesses of this methodological approach are critically discussed.Design/methodology/approachAction research was adopted for investigating the impact of an IL programme on a homogeneous group of students at the University of Parma (Italy). The project consisted of a cycle of four stages: observing, planning, acting, evaluating. Peer observation was adopted both as a validation method and as a support for the reflection on the research process.FindingsAction research is a suitable approach for teaching librarians, as it allows them to experience the role of teacher, researcher and reflective practitioner all together, thus favouring reflection on the complex, “multitask” role that they are playing today. Moreover, action research puts teaching librarians in an attitude of learning from the educational context in which they work, encourages sharing of experiences and promotes change in library context.Originality/valueThis contribution could encourage teaching librarians to adopt action research as a new approach to enquiry and practice and as a way to investigate their context, reflect on their actions and promote change in the field of IL.
Crossing a bridge
Authors: Hurley Tina , Hegarty Nora , Bolger Jennifer 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo describe the challenges involved in developing and delivering a pilot library skills course to a group of international bridging studies students from China and Pakistan. To provide guidelines for other libraries who may be faced with similar challenges.Design/methodology/approachThe paper documents the development and delivery of a pilot course for international students. The course described formed part of an accredited Critical Thinking & Research Skills module. The challenges of the project are described and a number of recommendations for its future development are outlined.FindingsThe project underlined the challenges involved in teaching library skills to international students. The main barrier that emerged throughout the course related to communication difficulties. Language levels amongst the group were poorer than anticipated. The group did display excellent IT skills, however, and enjoyed class work that actively engaged them in the learning process.Research limitations/implicationsThe project is still at a pilot stage of development. The paper provides a short‐term view of one small academic library's experience of working with international students. No full‐scale student survey has been conducted to date.Practical implicationsThis account of WIT Libraries experience of developing and delivering an accredited information skills course for the bridging studies group is likely to be a useful source of practical information for libraries in similar positions, of similar scale, faced with similar challenges.Originality/valueOffers practical solutions for libraries in similar positions. The successful diversification of the traditional library role is likely to be of interest to all members of the library profession.
Legacy in flight: processing the Marlon D. Green collection
Authors: Hoverstock Abigail , Baird Rebecca 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTwo graduate LIS students interested in archival studies describe their first effort processing a manuscript collection belonging to Marlon D. Green, the first African American commercial airline pilot in the US.Design/methodology/approachThe students locate introductory readings and seek the advice of professional archivists to organize the collection and write a finding aid that describes its contents. The novice archivists explore issues of appraisal, arrangement, description and preservation of items in the collection, and discuss the challenges archivists face in organizing collections objectively.FindingsThe students find organizing a manuscript collection to be a surprisingly collaborative and social process. Learning about Marlon Green's life directly from his family members gives the student archivists the advantage of knowing the context of his papers, which helps them order and group items more effectively.Practical implicationsArchivists will benefit from researching a collection's subject thoroughly at the beginning of the process. Collaborating with other archivists on processing collections may help archivists test and hone their methods and achieve greater consistency. The paper is an informal case study about organizing a manuscript collection or collection of family papers.Originality/valueThe discussion of an archivist's role may be useful to novice and student archivists or LIS professionals who have in their care a collection of papers that must be organized and described.
Police powers and human rights in the context of terrorism
Authors: Stone Richard 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe object of the paper is to analyse the justifications for the modification of police powers in response to terrorist threats, placing this issue in a European context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper consists of a critical examination of provisions relating to terrorism emanating from the European Union and the Council of Europe (European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)), and the relevant English law on police powers of stop and search, arrest, and detention.FindingsNothing in European law requires the amendments to police powers contained in English law; European law requires respect for human rights, even in dealing with terrorism; a shoot‐to‐kill policy is prohibited by the ECHR; and balance is an unsatisfactory method of resolving conflicts in this area.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was limited in its scope to certain areas of police powers, and to certain fundamental European documents. Future research should consider the issue in relation to wider areas.Originality/valueIt challenges the idea of balance between liberty and security, proposing a test based on necessity instead.
2005 Conference of Nigeria Library Association: Delta State Chapter
Authors: Ozioma Anie Sylvester , Alakpodia O.N. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo report on the Delta State Chapter of the Nigeria Library Association Conference/Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Wednesday, 9‐10 November 2005 at Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba, with the theme, “Library literacy and sustainable education” aimed at creating an awareness among librarians and the literate members of the state on the philosophy of the profession and the centrality of its place in facilitating a sustained and steady tempo in the educational development of the state.Design/methodology/approachA heoretical/journalistic is taken.FindingsFocus on activities of the event; the conference had, as one of the main activities on its agenda, the launching of a school library in one of the remote villages of the state; a step that was targeted at exposing the students and pupils of this area to recorded knowledge. Considering that knowledge is self‐generating, functioning and expanding on the basis of existing information resources, to promote library literacy and sustainable education in Delta State. Libraries in the State should be equipped and up‐dated with library materials, information and computer facilities.Originality/valueReveals how Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) can revolutionize libraries in developing countries.
Preparing Information Professionals for Leadership in the New Age: The 1st Asia Pacific Conference on Library and Information Education and Practice
Authors: Ghosh Maitrayee 
Published: July 2006

PurposeA conference report of the first Asia‐Pacific Conference on Library & Information Education and Practice conference hosted by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Library and Information Science education was the focus and preparing librarians for the twenty‐first century. The purpose is to educate practicing librarians and information scientists about directions in the profession and how to incorporate this message into the practice of librarianship.FindingsDifferent presentations highlighted new approaches and methods to approach new ways of thinking about service and expectations in the library community.Research limitations/implicationsGaining insight into current trends in library education. As library environments experience great change, with more emphasis on technology, it is imperative to train librarians with new competencies.Practical implicationsCombining library education and practice is key to being relevant to developments in library science education and retaining the science and technology as key components in the training of librarians. Originality/valueOf interest to regional librarians as well as librarians worldwide interested in how this region is preparing the next generation of librarians to practice with new skills, technology applications and to meet expectations.
HumaniTech1: A Discipline‐Centered Approach to Technology at UCI
Authors: Cohen Barbara L. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo share with readers how HumaniTech evolved and has matured over 18 years.Design/methodology/approachA description of a programmatic infrastructure that emphases technology in the humanities for teaching and research purposes.FindingsAs more institutions define and focus on how technology is driving their disciplines and changing how scholarship is being created, more connections are being made to educate the scholars about opportunities for improved ways to teach, incorporate new resources and methodologies to better define and further their craft. Implementing media to study and capture information is a moving target with new products and technologies being announced often.Research limitations/implicationsThis visit to HumaniTech does not capture everything but focuses on how technology in the humanities at one institution has addressed the need to raise the bar and share how colleagues are using information in their field and what this may mean for scholarly publishing.Practical implicationsFilling information gaps as new technologies offered different ways to conduct research and engage in teaching birthed HumaniTech. Today, nearly two decades later, a robust program of content, resources, and a higher common denominator is reached by a discipline‐centered unit to bridge technology with content.Originality/valueShows that the University of California, Irvine School of the Humanities promotes best practices of entertaining technology in humanities scholarship with instruction, programs, teaching tools and resources.
The dynamics of public networks
Authors: Saz‐Carranza Angel , Vernis Alfred 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper, by carrying out a review of the existent literature, tries to answer the question: what is the process an inter‐organizational public network undergoes?Design/methodology/approachFirst, different linear‐sequential network process models proposed by different scholars and disciplines are reviewed. Thereafter, grounded on the existing literature, some basic dimensions are identified, used to compare the different models proposed, highlighting complementarities and contradictions.FindingsDifferent authors expect contradictory evolutions of the relations between actors along the stages. Complementing linear process models with other types of approaches, e.g. dialectical models, may well synthesize the opposing findings.Originality/valueThe gap in knowledge on public network process makes the study of network process both theoretically relevant and significant to practice. The main contribution of the paper is a comparative study of the conceptualizations of the process a network undergoes.
Personality factors influencing politicians' attitudes toward wellbeing of citizens
Authors: Osayawe Ehigie Benjamin , Abimbola Kolade Ibidolapo , Ayooluwa Afolabi Olukayode 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo examine how personality dispositions of Nigerian politicians predict their attitude to the wellbeing of citizens.Design/methodology/approachA survey research was embarked that engaged 185 political aspirants to various electoral positions in the 2003 Nigerian elections. Respondents were administered a standardized psychological instrument that measures four personality attributes – needs for achievement, affiliation, dominance, and autonomy. They also responded to another standardized instrument that measures attitude to wellbeing of people.FindingsHierarchical multiple regression analyses conducted showed that gender and age are significant predictors of politicians' attitudes to wellbeing of the people. Male and younger politicians are more favorably disposed to people's wellbeing than female and older politicians. Among the personality attributes only need for achievement significantly accounted for variations in attitude to people's wellbeing. Specifically, the lower politicians are in need of achievement the more favorably disposed they are to people's wellbeing.Research limitations/implicationsThe research participants are not completely representative of politicians in Nigeria because the sample was drawn from the Southwest only. In addition, the personality attributes examined are not exhaustive as there are other possible attributes that could predict politicians' attitudes to citizens' wellbeing. There is also a limit to which results on attitude can be used to predict actual behavior of politicians to people's wellbeing.Practical implicationsThe study demonstrates the need for psychological tests in Nigeria's electoral process. It demonstrates that personality attributes of politicians could be assessed and used to predict their concern for citizens' wellbeing. It is opined that, where politicians are more concerned with the citizens' wellbeing, it could enhance the sustainability of democracy in Nigeria.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates a dimension of psychological testing in Nigeria's electoral process.
The role of functional specialists in shaping controls within supply networks
Authors: Cuganesan Suresh 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how accounting and supply function specialists shape controls in collaborative supply networks (CSNs) and how both might co‐evolve.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a case study of an Australian metal manufacturer (“SteelBiz”) and its CSN is conducted.FindingsThe paper finds changes in both trust vis‐à‐vis formal controls and in intra‐organisational supply‐accounting relations occurred in a mutually constitutive manner. At SteelBiz, a shift to formal controls occurred due to the efforts of the accounting function in contesting organisational visibility. Overall, both intra‐ and inter‐organisational relations were found to co‐evolve.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the paper include: an empirical examination of buyer organisations only; a focus on intra‐organisational issues between functional specialists to the relative exclusion of both more “macro” trends and inter‐personal relationships; and the limited generalisability associated with the methodology chosen. Future research should consider both buyer and supplier organisations and whether the “disciplinary alignments” observed here are reflective of more enduring patterns.Originality/valueThe contributions of this paper are two‐fold. First, the paper attempts to fill a gap in the literature pertaining to how intra‐organisational relations might influence network controls. Furthermore, the few studies that do exist describe the “intra‐inter” dynamic as uni‐directional only, whereas this paper reveals how both mutually constitute the other. Second, complexities into the trust‐formal control relationship are revealed while it is proposed that as CSN relations develop, process‐based mechanisms become more important than other relationship‐sustaining devices, with the trust‐formal control dynamic dependent on ongoing negotiation and information as mobilised by intra‐organisational participants.