Government Information Disclosure Research Articles

Relationship between online corporate governance and transparency disclosures and board composition: evidence from JSE listed companies

ABSTRACT In the aftermath of corporate collapses and scandals, transparent communication with stakeholders is vital in rebuilding trust. Notwithstanding sound theoretical arguments advocating the importance of board diversity, e.g. improved corporate governance, empirical results remained mixed. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of board composition on companies’ use of their websites as voluntary communication channel for corporate governance and transparency disclosures. A quantitative methodology was used to measure corporate governance and transparency disclosures available on corporate websites for a sample of JSE-listed companies. By means of multiple regression analysis, findings showed that companies with more board members, a higher percentage of female directors and directors over the age of 50 years excel in the disclosure of corporate governance and transparency-related information. Pertaining to strategic information, companies with more independent non-executive directors disclosed more strategic information and companies with more ethnic directors scored higher on attempts to level the accessibility of information to all stakeholders. Overall, the findings, therefore, suggest that as board diversity may improve both corporate governance and transparency; stakeholders may also benefit from well-diversified boards. Finally, support is provided for the Employment equity and Broad-based employment equity Acts, as well as the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill implemented in South Africa to encourage more gender and ethnic diversity.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Ecological Civilization Construction in China

The construction of an ecological civilization is a strategic idea proposed based on the conditions of different countries and the laws governing social development. It is a new way to promote harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Therefore, exploring the evolution characteristics and influence of ecological civilization in China is helpful for the country’s future development. This study uses the pentagon model, panel threshold regression model, and spatial analysis tool to explore the law of space-time differentiation and analyze regional coordination and ecological civilization construction in 31 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in China from 2000 to 2018. During the study period, the construction of ecological civilization in China generally fluctuated; the spatial differentiation pattern of the eastern region was more developed than that of the central region, which was more developed than that of the western region. The regional coordination degree decreased in the order of east >central >northeast >west, and the degree of coordination in provinces and cities gradually shifted and finally accumulated to be reflected in the economy and environment in 2018. The most important factor affecting the development of ecological civilization was determined to be scientific research, followed by air quality and government information disclosure.

Examining the Relationship between Different Types of Information Disclosure of Foundations and Chinese Donations

Abstract The philanthropy industry in China has rapidly advanced in the past few decades and become more prominent in importance. In this study, we examine and compare how the disclosure of different types of information of Chinese foundations is associated with donations by exploiting a unique dataset from the China Foundation Center (CFC). Specifically, we explore a unique index of transparency on information disclosure or the Foundation Transparency Index (FTI) provided by the CFC and investigate how the donations from Chinese donors are associated with the disclosure of foundation’s basic information, its financial information, project information and its governance information. We find that Chinese donations are more sensitive to foundation’s governance information disclosure. These findings have important policy implications for both Chinese policy makers and practitioners in the industry. Specifically, the results lend strong support to advocating for the imposition of more mandatory regulations on the disclosure of foundation information, especially the governance information.

Citizen Assessments of Government Actions in the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

This study investigates citizen assessments of government actions in the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Empirical analyses based on a large-scale online survey indicate that the Chinese public expects the government to improve its support for the frontline medical staff, management of public stress and anxiety, and disclosure of government information. Specifically, indirect exposure to COVID-19 through second-hand information is negatively associated with citizen assessments of government actions; by contrast, the first-hand frontline experience with the epidemic is positively associated with citizen assessments of government actions. Findings suggest that citizens with first-hand experience might be more able to judge government actions under the actual constraints of resources and opportunities, and are less likely to overemphasize the costs or risks associated with government actions than others without frontline experience. Our work suggests that governments should effectively communicate detailed information regarding government actions to the public during public health emergencies, as more informed citizens might be more supportive of governments with limited resources and, probably, more actively collaborate with governments.

Research on the influence of remedial measures on public satisfaction after government information service failures in typhoon disasters: A case from China

This paper aims to study the main influencing factors of remedial service on public satisfaction after government information disclosure failures in typhoon disasters. Internal potential variables such as result Justice, Procedural Justice, Interactional Justice, and Information Justice are key factors that can significantly influence public satisfaction. A questionnaire survey was conducted in typhoon-prone areas in China, and 724 public satisfaction questionnaires on government typhoon information disclosure were collected. By selecting latent variables, assuming structural relationship and determining measurable variables, the satisfaction index model of remediation service after the government information disclosure failure in typhoon disaster was established and analyzed. Result Justice, Procedural Justice, Interactional Justice, and Information Justice are in direct proportion to justice perception dimensions. The findings strongly support the assumption that public satisfaction can influence government image and public belief. Moreover, it can be concluded that improving government image and public belief is conducive to strengthening public loyalty to the government. Taking the typhoon disaster in Leizhou Peninsula of China as an example, SEM(structural equation model) was used to simulate the remediation service path after the information disclosure failure, the feasibility and scientificity of which were further verified. It is of great significance to establish and analyze a public satisfaction evaluation model of remedial service after the government information disclosure failure in typhoon disasters based on structural equation model.

公民滥用政府信息公开申请权的规制——围绕“三需要”条款删除的展开

公民滥用政府信息公开申请权的规制——围绕“三需要”条款删除的展开

应急状态下政府信息公开制度研究

应急状态下政府信息公开制度研究

What causes employees to whistle while they work? Factors affecting internal whistle‐blowing in the Australian Public Service

AbstractWhat causes employees in the Australian Public Service (APS) to internally blow the whistle on corruption in the workplace? This research examines the impact of the nature of corruption, organisational culture, and employees’ work attitudes and actions on internal whistle‐blowing in the APS. The respondents were found to internally blow the whistle for most types of corruption: fraud, conflict of interest, unlawful disclosure of government information, and perverting the course of justice. Their whistle‐blowing behaviour was, however, unaffected by observations of theft of official assets. They were also unlikely to report observations of cronyism and nepotism. Active observers of workplace bullying (those who have blown the whistle after witnessing someone else being bullied) were three times more likely to also internally report corruption than inactive observers of bullying.

The integration role of governmental information disclosure platform

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a feasible scheme for local governments to regulate corporate environmental data fraud and to discuss whether the influence of the construction of online information disclosure platform on the environmental behavior of enterprises is better than the offline spot check.Design/methodology/approachUnder the background of changing environmental fees into taxes in China, this paper conducts evolutionary game analysis between local governments and enterprises in view of the existing problem of environmental data fraud. Furthermore, through the introduction of government information disclosure platform, this paper discusses the impact of the integration of direct government regulation and indirect public concern regulation on the evolution of environmental behavior of both sides. Finally, the evolutionary game is simulated by adopting system dynamics to analyses the implementation effect of different cases on the game process and game equilibrium.FindingsThe results showed that the introduction of information disclosure platform mechanism can effectively suppress the fluctuations existing in the game play and stabilize the game. Moreover, it is worth noting that the regulatory effect of local governments investing part of the monitoring cost in the construction of online information platform is proved to be better than that of putting all the monitoring cost into offline investigation. While optimizing the monitoring cost allocation, the local government still needs to attach great importance to organically combine the attention of the public and media with the governmental official platform.Practical implicationsThe obtained results confirm that the proposed model can assist local government in refining the effects of their environmental regulatory decisions, especially in the case of corporate data fraud under environmental tax enforcement.Originality/valuePrevious literature only suggested that local governments should reduce the cost of supervision to change the corporate behavior to a better direction, but no further in-depth study. Thus, this study fills the gap by discussing the positive transformation effect of local government cost allocation scheme on corporate environmental behavior.

First instance administrative ruling in Wu youshui v. Guangdong province health and population family planning commission on government information disclosure

First instance administrative ruling in Wu youshui v. Guangdong province health and population family planning commission on government information disclosure

Second instance administrative ruling in state land and resources bureau of pingding county and jia ruiwen on government information disclosure

Second instance administrative ruling in state land and resources bureau of pingding county and jia ruiwen on government information disclosure

How Resources of Universities influence Industry Cooperation

In Korea, cooperation between university and company is mainly encouraged by government policy as the Triple Helix’s statist model. Since 2003, the government started a variety of university financial support program, and in 2014, it reached to the point that 31 ministries conducted 408 programs in total. Most projects focused on training human resources and supporting Research and development, which is considered as the core function of universities, but some of the projects are designed to support the industry–academia cooperation. For instance, the Ministry of Education ran ‘Leaders in University and Industry Cooperation (LINC)’ program. LINC is a follow-up project of Human Resources Development for the Leading Industries, Industry–Academia Cooperation-oriented University, and Focal Point Research program. Accordingly, it aimed to create university–industry cooperative models, and nurture talents based on regional economy’s demand. The program provided approximately $230M per year for over 50 universities across the country. It was one of the highly influential grant programs considering the fact that there are about 200 universities nationwide and an annual budget of university is $900 billion on average. In this context, this study is to assess the influence of resources of universities capacity on the achievement of university–industry cooperation and explore whether a government-initiated policy has a significant effect using data from government information disclosure system on education.

Bank Information Disclosure, Financial Transparency and Corporate Governance in Rastin Banking

Purpose: This paper aims to define a set of banking operating regulations for financial transparency, corporate governance, and bank information disclosure.
 Design: Bank governance, financial transparency, and information disclosure are amongst the most important solutions to attract public trust to financial and banking operations. In order to reach this goal, a new set of regulations should be designed to solve the problem. In this way, Rastin Banking regulations can provide a base to obtain a better information circulation and higher clarity.
 Findings: A draft of regulations for financial transparency, governance, and bank information disclosure is presented in this paper, which can be employed as a basis for the codification of the respective law.
 Research limitations: Since such kinds of regulations are novel for banks, they are required to be meticulously scrutinized in the first place, and after adaptation, adjustment, and performing the necessary modifications, the code of law can be codified.
 Practical implications: Bank managers, through granting various concessions to themselves and their own stakeholders, have violated the rights of shareholders, depositors, and other stakeholders. This issue, through applying the governance methods, is adjustable to a great extent.
 Social implications: This procedure is a model that can be adopted in other countries, especially those countries that have essential ambiguities in their banking and financial operations.
 Value: Clearly, the lack of transparency in banking operations can gradually weaken the trust of depositors, stakeholders, and shareholders, and result in probable abuses and damages to all parties in the bank’s contracts. This article fulfills an identified need and solves the practical problem in financial abuses, corruption, and collusion, and can provide positive and essential effects on creating public trust in financial operations.

Corporate governance, disclosure and firm performance: empirical findings from Malaysia

This study examines the effect of corporate governance, disclosure and firm characteristics on firm performance by taking data from the 2013 financial year annual reports of large public listed companies (based on market capitalisation) in Malaysia. Using multiple regression analysis, this study finds that the effect on firm performance, namely ROA, ROE and Tobin's Q, is different. Board size, the percentage of independent directors on the board and percentage of ownership concentration in firms have a significant negative relationship with ROA. ROE shows a significant negative association with board size, AC independence and ownership concentration. Tobin's Q only shows a significant negative relationship with board size. The findings in this study contribute to literature that good corporate governance characteristics, appropriate disclosure of corporate governance information and firm characteristics have improved the performance of listed companies in Malaysia. The study also suggests limitations and directions for future research.

Public Appeal and Local Fiscal Transparency：An Empirical Analysis based on Chinese Provincial Panel Data

Fiscal transparency is not only the basic feature of the modern fiscal budget system, but also the inevitable requirement of establishing a sunshine and responsibility government. Fiscal transparency means disclosing to the public the structure, functions, public sector accounts, fiscal forecast information, etc., and ensuring that the information is timely, detailed, reliable and understandable. If local governments lack sufficient impetus to improve local financial transparency, it is clearly worth studying whether to improve local financial transparency through the bottom-up pathway. What is more, with the official implementation of the Regulation of Government Information Disclosure in 2008, public concern and enthusiasm for public information openness issues have gradually increased. At the central government level, the number of applications for information disclosure accepted by the ministry of finance increased from 17 to 1,362 in 2008-2014. At the local government level, the number of applications for fiscal information disclosure received by provincial departments of finance in China fluctuates slightly, but generally shows an upward trend. From 2008 to 2015, the provincial department of finance received 149, 222, 912, 558, 834, 892, 880 and 1616 government information disclosure applications respectively. The public’s application to local governments for fiscal information disclosure involves the three public consumptions”, the social security” information, the public pricing information and many other aspects. Based on these observations and reflections, this paper uses the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2015 to analyze the mechanism of public appeal for local fiscal transparency. We first use Baidu search function to structure the index which can measure the public attention on fiscal transparency problem index in different provinces and different years, then analyze the public demands for the influence of local total fiscal transparency. On this basis, we analyze the public demands for state-owned enterprise information transparency, the transparency of the social security fund and the general public budget transparency further. At the same time, there may be significant regional differences in the influence of public appeal on local fiscal transparency in coastal areas and inland areas. Therefore, we examine the regional differences between coastal areas and inland areas in which public appeal affects local fiscal transparency. Our empirical results show that the public’s focus on the three public consumption” issues will promote the fiscal transparency of the local government, the transparency of state-owned enterprises and the transparency of the social security fund. The public’s focus on social security” will promote the fiscal transparency of local government and the transparency of state-owned enterprises. However, public attention will not promote the general public budget transparency. At the same time, in coastal areas, the public’s attention to the three public consumptions” and the social security” information can significantly promote the total fiscal transparency of local governments. However, in inland areas, public appeal does not significantly affect local fiscal transparency, whether it concerns the three public consumptions” or the social security” information.

Do environmental, social, and governance activities improve corporate financial performance?

AbstractThis study investigated the relationship between corporate efficiency and corporate sustainability to determine whether firms concerned about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues can also be efficient and profitable. We applied data envelopment analysis to estimate corporate efficiency and investigated the nonlinear relationship between corporate efficiency and ESG disclosure. Evidence shows that corporate transparency regarding ESG information has a positive association with corporate efficiency at the moderate disclosure level, rather than at the high or low disclosure level. Governance information disclosure has the strongest positive linkage with corporate efficiency, followed by social and environmental information disclosure. Moreover, we explored the relationship between particular ESG activities and corporate financial performance (CFP), including corporate efficiency, return on assets, and market value. We found that most of the ESG activities reveal a nonnegative relationship with CFP. These findings may provide evidence about voluntary corporate social responsibility strategy choices for enhancing corporate sustainability.

The design and application of a government environmental information disclosure index in China

With the development of Big Data, governments with abundant public data have realized the importance of information disclosure. Governments of the world have paid more attention to intelligent data analysis for scientific decision-making. Environmental information disclosure is not only an important environmental management tool, but also a significant subfield of government information disclosure. Currently, over 60 countries and regions around the world have established their own government information disclosure systems, and the related theoretical research has advanced considerably. However, there are such large numbers of problems during the development and implementation of the relevant information disclosure policies in developing countries. Environmental information disclosure would lead to significant beneficial impacts of practical significance relating to the protection of the public's right to know, participate, supervise, and improve the quality of environmental management in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to design a feasible system relating to government environmental information disclosure. This study is the first to apply the entire-array-polygon method in the context of environmental information disclosure evaluation. The results revealed that the average value of the government environmental information disclosure index for the 31 provinces was 0.25, indicating an overall level that was categorized as “general”. None of the provinces was categorized as “excellent”. The EAP method could be applied to government environmental information disclosure in both China and other developing countries.

Content analysis of China’s environmental policy instruments on promoting firms’ environmental innovation

Environmental policy instruments play an important role in promoting environmental innovation. They can not only solve the problem of externalities in environmental innovation, but also provide support for its development through subsidies, tax incentives, etc. This study constructs an analytical framework from the dimensions of policy type and policy targets of two stages of environmental innovation, and selects 231 environmental policies issued by the Chinese government as well as various ministries and commissions from 1987 to 2016 to promote environmental innovation as the research sample. The results show that the issue of environmental policy is mainly in the form of notification and lacks of authority. The use of market-based instruments is more frequent than that of command-control and information-based instruments. Environmental policy instruments focus on environmental innovation adoption rather than environmental innovation research and development; the use of government procurement, information disclosure and other policy measures are relatively inadequate.

Empirical study on the evaluation model of public satisfaction with typhoon disaster information disclosure

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study major influencing factors on public satisfaction with regard to information disclosure amid typhoon disasters. Internal latent variables, including disaster information quality, information disclosure channels and disaster perception levels, significantly affected the degree of public satisfaction, which was key factors in determining account consumer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachBy conducting the questionnaire survey in typhoon-prone areas, 326 copies of the questionnaire about public satisfaction towards government information disclosure about typhoon were collected. An exponential model of satisfaction about information disclosure amid typhoon disasters was constructed and analyzed through the selection of latent variables, the hypotheses of the structural relationship and the establishment of measurable variables.FindingsDisaster information quality, disaster information disclosure channels and disaster perception levels were all positively correlated with the dimensions of information performance perception dimensions. Public expectations also made positive contributions to public satisfaction. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that public satisfaction affects the government image and public trust.Originality/valueWith the Leizhou Peninsula, China attacked by the typhoon disasters as an example, the SEM was adopted to simulate the routes and its feasibility and scientificity were validated. It is valuable to build and analyze an evaluation model based on a structural equation model underlying the public satisfaction towards information disclosure amid typhoon disasters.

Promoting tobacco control law enforcement in China through applications of “Government Information Disclosure” and media advocacy

Promoting tobacco control law enforcement in China through applications of “Government Information Disclosure” and media advocacy