Governance Issues Research Articles

Impact of Sand Mining on Bathymetry of the Meghna River

This study aims to evaluate the morphological changes of the lower Meghna River in Bhola district due to reckless sand mining from riverbeds. It has been done based on primary data collected from the field and secondary data, such as river bathymetry of 2006, 2012, and 2022 from BIWTA and Landsat Imageries of 2006, 2016, and 2023 from USGS Earth Explorer. The study demonstrates that extensive sand mining activities in the lower Meghna River significantly affect river bathymetry and accelerate riverbank erosion. Lower Meghna River experiences a higher erosion rate due to prolonged and intensive sand mining. The erosion rate increased significantly between 2020 and 2021, with the riverbed eroding at an accelerating rate, highlighting a critical situation in the region. However, FGD and case studies from the field show that the impact of sand mining is not only confined to river morphology change but many more ecological, socio-political, economic, environmental, and governance issues are also linked with sand mining activities. The Dhaka University Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vol. 13(1), 2024, P 21-28

Engaging youth students in community issues: The efficacy of a citizenship education programme in Kenya

This article explores the implementation and impact of a local democracy programme as a citizenship education framework in Kenya. Focusing on the pedagogical approach of ‘Transmission, Transaction and Reflection’ in Kenya, it examines how secondary students engage with local democratic governance and societal issues by creating and distributing reports in their newsletters. The study reveals the benefits and challenges of integrating citizenship education into the curriculum, highlighting the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, and demonstrates that experiential learning activities, such as student-led reporting, can significantly enhance students’ understanding of democratic values and active citizenship. It underscores the necessity of bridging the theoretical–practical divide to effectively prepare students for their roles as engaged, empowered and ethical citizens. These valuable insights into pedagogical strategies can foster more inclusive and participatory citizenship education in Kenya and similar African contexts.

Ideologies that South Africa can borrow from selected high-growth nations in efforts to re-establish its developmental state model

This article examines the philosophies that South Africa can adopt from specific high-growth nations to reinstate its "developmental state" paradigm. In the post-Apartheid period, following South Africa's liberation from the governing National Party, numerous initiatives were suggested to rejuvenate the nation and enhance its presence on both national and global stages. The newly established ANC government, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, formulated and implemented several people-centric policies and strategic initiatives. The administration embraced "developmental state" ideals, believing that state economic engagement may improve its ability to address the legacy of apartheid, especially the challenges of poverty, unemployment, and widespread inequalities. Nevertheless, despite three decades of democracy, the purported "developmental state" continues to exhibit numerous governance and socioeconomic issues, including elevated poverty rates, social inequality, disparate land access, unemployment, and disparities in public service availability. The discourse on South Africa's status as a "developmental state" persists, along with enquiries into how the nation may realign itself to achieve its goal of being a "developmental state." This document seeks to compile methods that South Africa could use based on examples from selected high-growth nations. This paper will examine how South Africa might reverse its economic decline, the necessary institutional and structural reforms, and the social and political contexts required to establish itself as a more credible "developmental state". This research utilises a qualitative secondary analysis of existing textual data regarding the relationship between South Africa, the "developmental state," and the chosen high-growth countries.

Thirty Years of Sustainability Reporting: Insights, Gaps and an Agenda for Future Research Through a Systematic Literature Review

This paper examines the progress, key themes, and future directions in sustainability reporting, aiming to identify critical insights, gaps, and research opportunities to enhance its effectiveness and impact. A comprehensive review was conducted, analyzing peer-reviewed articles on the evolution, implementation, and outcomes of sustainability reporting across various sectors and regions over the past thirty years. This review highlights a shift from an initial focus on environmental disclosures to a broader inclusion of social and governance issues. Despite advancements, notable gaps persist, such as the lack of standardized reporting frameworks, challenges in data collection and comparability, and limited understanding of the relationship between sustainability reporting and corporate financial performance. Emerging areas of future research include the need to develop standardized measurement tools tailored to different industries, explore the long-term effects of sustainability reporting on corporate behavior and performance, and investigate effective strategies for stakeholder engagement to enhance the credibility and relevance of sustainability reports. The introduction of IFRS S1 and S2 offers opportunities to address some challenges, but their full impact requires further exploration. This paper synthesizes existing literature, outlines significant challenges, and offers a roadmap for future research that will help scholars, practitioners, and policymakers advance sustainability reporting practices.

The impact of digital transformation and ESG on customer behaviour towards brands at commercial banks in Ho Chi Minh city

ESG (environmental, social and governance, a framework used to assess an organisation’s business practices and performance on various sustainability and ethical issues) and Digital Transformation (the process of using digital technologies to change a business’s operations, products and services by integrating digital solutions into all areas of the business, which can lead to cultural and technological changes) are emerging issues across different industries, including the banking field. There has been limited research focusing on exploring the linkages between ESG, Digital Transformation and Customer Behaviour in the banking area, especially within developing countries such as Vietnam. Based on this gap, this study analyses and assesses the role of Digital Transformation and ESG on customer behaviour towards brands in the banking sector in Ho Chi Minh City. The research employed the quantitative research methods with the combination of fundamental analytical methods such as statistics, Cronbach’s alpha reliability, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), measurement models and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The analysis was based on survey data from 550 customers who are the commercial banks’ current customers and live in Ho Chi Minh City, yielding 514 valid responses. Using SPSS and SMART PLS software, the study provided notable results. Specifically: (1) The component factors of ESG, including Environmental Issues (EN), Social Issues (SO), Government Issues (GO) and Digital Transformation (DT), positively influence Customer Behaviour (CB); (2) The component factors of ESG, including Environmental Issues (EN), Social Issues (SO) and Government Issues (GO), play a mediating role in the relationship between Digital Transformation (DT) and Customer Behaviour (CB).

Critical Provocations for Synthetic Data

Training artificial intelligence (AI) systems requires vast quantities of data, and AI developers face a variety of barriers to accessing the information they need. Synthetic data has captured researchers’ and industry’s imagination as a potential solution to this problem. While some of the enthusiasm for synthetic data may be warranted, in this short paper we offer critical counterweight to simplistic narratives that position synthetic data as a cost-free solution to every data-access challenge—provocations highlighting ethical, political, and governance issues the use of synthetic data can create. We question the idea that synthetic data, by its nature, is exempt from privacy and related ethical concerns. We caution that framing synthetic data in binary opposition to “real” measurement data could subtly shift the normative standards to which data collectors and processors are held. And we argue that by promising to divorce data from its constituents—the people it represents and impacts—synthetic data could create new obstacles to democratic data governance.

The Impact of Vertical Fiscal Imbalance and Local Government Expenditure Structure on the Quality of Economic Development in China: A Study Based on a Simultaneous Equations Model

The challenge of improving economic development quality and achieving sustainable growth has become a pressing issue for the Chinese government. This study explores the interaction between vertical fiscal imbalance, local government expenditure structure, and economic development quality. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2008-2022, the study applies the three-stage least squares method to assess the dual impact of vertical fiscal imbalance on economic development quality. The results demonstrate that vertical fiscal imbalance not only has a direct negative impact on economic development quality but also indirectly impairs it by constraining the expenditure structure. Moreover, local government expenditure on public welfare projects plays a pivotal role in improving economic development quality. This study highlights the importance of addressing vertical fiscal imbalance in improving economic development quality. It recommends a rational division of fiscal powers and responsibilities between central and local governments, reforms to China’s fiscal transfer payment system, and optimization of the expenditure structure to mitigate vertical fiscal imbalance and enhance China’s economic development quality.

Current Research Progress of ESG and Its Systematic Analysis from the Perspective of Economics

As global environmental, social and governance issues gradually become key factors for enterprise sustainable development and investment decision-making, the research progress of Environment, Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG) has received wide attention. This article will systematically summarize the existing ESG research based on the existing ESG research environment, society and governance, based on the existing research on ESG enterprise value, corporate performance and social responsibility, systematically summarize the existing ESG research, find problems in ESG research and propose solutions through summary. The construction of ESG system in accordance with economics is discussed, and the research found that, The ESG system provides new evaluation indicators and decision-making tools for enterprises and investors. By quantifying the performance of the environment, society and governance, ESG evaluation not only helps enterprises better internalize social costs, improve brand value and employee loyalty, but also alleviates information asymmetry and agency problems, and enhances the long-term risk resistance of enterprises. Based on the discussion of the ESG system in this article, it provides a program discussion to solve the problems in the current ESG research. At the same time, it provides more possibilities for better achieving the coordinated development of society, economy and the environment, and provides a feasibility plan for global sustainable development.

Robust competency-based evaluation matrix for directive PMO services in construction projects

The interest in using project management office (PMO) services in organizations to manage their construction projects is growing in light of rising economic, technological, and social developments based on their ability to achieve organizational goals while avoiding risks. Accordingly, organizations use PMO services to manage their technical and financial project issues to periodically evaluate PMO performance and services in a scientific, practical, and measurable way to ensure successful project path via PMO. Therefore, this research aims to develop a performance evaluation system that enables organizations to follow up and evaluate the PMO performance to ensure that PMO manages the organizations’ expectations and goals successfully according to certain quality, scope, and cost. The study builds on significant findings in PMO competence indexes as evaluation matrix, which includes five basic categories with 136 indexes covering the project life cycle. The matrix was developed based on literature analysis and supplemented with experts’ interviews in construction management. The developed robust competency-based index (RCI) for directive PMO supports the organizations to conduct client satisfaction, correction, or partial/total change of the PMO’s competence flow within five construction project life cycle and process, i.e. governance, portfolio, information, execution, and contract issues.

Land: Governance, Digitization and Human Rights – a Comparative Study

The digitization of land records is being promoted by the World Bank at scale, especially in developing countries. Efficiently maintaining land records can improve tenure safety and food security, reduce poverty, and aid democratic urbanization. While the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development encourages the use of new technology to administer land, it also forewarns that such initiatives ought to factor in digital divide. These evolving processes tend to have a detrimental impact on the tenure rights of marginalized people who are devoid of both access and understanding of such modernization efforts. Through this paper, we examine digitization and associated land governance processes from a human rights perspective. To bring them to light, we compare digitization initiatives in both India and South Africa and draw lessons from them to address issues of equity, inclusion, and good governance in an increasingly digital world.

The mediated amplification of societal risk and risk governance of artificial intelligence: technological risk frames on YouTube and their impact before and after ChatGPT

Over the past decade, many experts from academia, business, and civil society have warned of the risks of artificial intelligence (AI), such as large-scale job displacement, data bias against social groups, the use of AI to undermine democracy, the misuse of AI for mass surveillance and/or policing, the unregulated use of autonomous weapons, and others. However, research suggests that news media and social media representations emphasize the benefits over the risks of AI and rarely address issues of risk governance, while social media studies are still rare and largely based on Twitter/X data. This study proposes a theoretical framework of mediated risk communication based on the social amplification of risk framework (SARF), the extended parallel process model (EPPM), and framing. To understand prevalent AI-related risk frames and their role in mediated technological risk amplification/attenuation before and after the release of ChatGPT, a sample of the 501 most viewed YouTube videos about AI published between 2020 and 2023 were analyzed. Four frames with different emphases on societal threat and societal efficacy of AI were found with significant differences between risk/benefit emphases, AI evaluations, risk control/governance measures, and references to risk governance actors. Frames with higher emphasis on societal threat of AI were more likely to be viewed and commented on by YouTube users. AI-related threat frames increased significantly after the release of ChatGPT in 2022, suggesting its role as a risk-amplifying event. Implications for theory, future research, and AI risk governance are discussed.

Finance literacy and sustainable finance literacy

Financial literacy is highly heterogeneous across the population, depending on school education, family influence, gender and age. However, many tests highlight the low level of basic financial skills in the general population, particularly among young people. Yet financial knowledge and confidence in that knowledge have a direct impact on investors’ choices and ultimate wealth, particularly when concepts such as risk are poorly understood. Beyond, traditional financial literacy is not enough to guarantee a sustainable financial culture. This also requires an understanding of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and their impact on financial decisions. Attitudes towards sustainable investments are correlated with understanding of these financial products and perceptions of greenwashing. In addition, recent research shows that sustainable finance is increasingly integrated into financial assets valuation and investors behavior. We review the literature on these topics.

Federal Government Issues Final Rule for 2025 Physician Fee Schedule

Federal Government Issues Final Rule for 2025 Physician Fee Schedule

Compliance and Governance issues in Cloud Computing and AI: USA and Africa

Compliance and Governance issues in Cloud Computing and AI: USA and Africa

Barriers to Radiotherapy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa for Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review

Background: Access to radiotherapy services is critical for effective cancer treatment, yet patients in sub-Saharan Africa face numerous barriers to accessing these services. The region is experiencing a significant increase in cancer cases, with a more than 85% increase in cancer cases reported in the past decade, highlighting the critical role of radiotherapy in enhancing patient prognosis. This systematic review aims to explore the barriers to radiotherapy access in sub-Saharan Africa. The barriers explored will be used to inform the development of the framework to improve access to radiotherapy in the Gauteng provinces, South Africa. Methods: A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted to identify relevant studies published between January 2013 and December 2023. Studies reporting on barriers to radiotherapy access in SSA were included and put into four categories of barriers: health system factors, patient sociodemographic factors, patient factors, and provider factors. Data were synthesised using thematic analysis. Results: This review identifies geographical, financial, cultural, logistical, and systemic barriers to radiotherapy access in sub-Saharan Africa, including limited infrastructure, long travel distances, and inequitable distribution of services. Systemic barriers, including policy gaps and governance issues, also contribute to the inequitable distribution of radiotherapy services in the region. Conclusions: This systematic review highlights the diverse array of barriers to radiotherapy access in sub-Saharan Africa and emphasises the urgent need for targeted interventions to address these challenges.

Influence of Social Media in Shaping the Adolescents’ Political Awareness, Participation, and Activism

The emergence of social media has immensely influenced how the younger generations participate and interact in the discussion of the different societal and governmental issues. Thus, it is imperative to formulate information-media literacy and digital citizenship guidelines that may help promote healthy and safe political engagements and participation in the virtual space. In this study, the impacts of social media to the adolescents’ political awareness, participation, and activism were assessed and analyzed. Using the descriptive-correlational-comparative design, 523 senior high school students, aged 17-19 years old, were asked to answer the 50-item researcher-made questionnaire, Social Media Use, Political Participation, Awareness, and Activism (SMPPAA) Survey. The data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, t-test, and ANOVA. The results revealed that the adolescents often use social media as a tool for presenting their political interests and to a great extent had relied on online information to get updates on political issues. The adolescents’ political participation, awareness, and activism did not significantly differ with respect to their age, sex, religious affiliation. There was differing level of political awareness among the adolescents as regards their socio-economic status. Moreover, the results affirmed the ideas propounded in the Cognitive Engagement Theory and Interest-Driven Theory regarding the influence of social media usage and reliance to online information with the development of the adolescents’ political awareness, participation, and activism.

Devastating Flood in Nepal Amid a Humanitarian Crisis: A Call for Action

Floods have been a major problem in Nepal for a long time. Many lives have been lost due to the flood and people are still suffering from its effect. People are homeless and facing basic problems like food, and shelter. There are rising cases of waterborne diseases due to contaminated water. Providing healthcare facilities in this situation is additional challenge to the government. This has been a challenging issue for the Nepal government, and that need to be stop. Therefore, in this paper, we discussed the various methods, and strategies to tackle this problem in the future.

ISSUES OF SLUM UPGRADING IN ITOKUN/IKIJA, ABEOKUTA, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigates the challenges of slum upgrading in the Itoku-Ikija area of Abeokuta North, Ogun State, with a view to propose suitable approaches for improvement. The objectives include assessing the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of residents, identifying existing conditions, examining housing quality, identifying development challenges, and recommending solutions. Data was collected using questionnaires administered on residents, town planners, public agencies, and stakeholders. A total of 400 questionnaires were administered, with 300 retrieved. Additionally, unstructured interviews with town planners were conducted to ensure comprehensive data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques via SPSS and Excel. The study unraveled comprehensive analysis of slum upgrading challenges in Itoku-Ikija area, Abeokuta, and presented a nuanced understanding of the challenges and potential solutions. The data-driven approach provides valuable insights into the socio-economic dynamics, infrastructure deficits, and governance issues affecting the area. The challenges of slum development are ranked, with the spread of diseases, unemployment, and overcrowding being the most severe. The research made the following recommendations: rehabilitation of infrastructure, creation of incentives for farmers, creation of job opportunities, provision of potable water, and provision of good educational systems, among others.

Managing organizational carbon neutrality: A systematic review

AbstractThis article aims to analyze the challenges that arise for organizations when they make carbon neutrality commitments, the practices involved in implementing those commitments, and the impacts they have, based on a systematic review of empirical studies focused on the managerial and organizational implications of carbon neutrality initiatives. Through rigorous analysis of relevant research, this study maps the literature, highlighting, among other things, that research on the subject has mushroomed and is widely dispersed in terms of both geographical and disciplinary provenance; that the process of achieving organizational carbon neutrality has been undertheorized; and that there is a lack substantial critical examinations of carbon neutrality actions despite the greenwashing trends that have been observed in organizations' climate commitments. The results of the selected studies show the numerous challenges of managing carbon neutrality, mainly due to organizational obstacles and governance issues related to the lack of expertise, leadership, and reliable data to track climate performance rigorously as well as persistent uncertainties surrounding regulations and public policies in this area. Despite these difficulties, the conclusions of most studies remain optimistic about the positive financial, reputational, and institutional impacts of organizational carbon neutrality. The best practices identified in the literature revolve around actions related to leadership commitments, strategic planning, and innovation. This study provides an in‐depth understanding of the implications of carbon neutrality for managers and proposes avenues of improvement for future initiatives in this area. It also discusses contributions to the literature, significant research gaps, and resulting avenues for future research.

Ecological compensation for cross-regional domestic waste treatment: A stochastic differential game perspective.

The implementation of ecological compensation for cross-regional domestic waste treatment is beneficial for balancing the interests of waste generation districts and waste treatment districts. This paper introduces dynamic differential games to capture the temporal evolution and adjustment of strategies, examining dynamic game strategies under different compensation scenarios (non-horizontal ecological compensation, horizontal ecological compensation and fully shared ecological compensation). A new interest distribution model is proposed, with empirical analysis conducted using Shanghai as a case study to validate the reliability and feasibility of the model. The findings indicate: (1) Government intervention combined with horizontal ecological compensation significantly improves waste management efficiency and urban welfare. The compensation mechanism fosters regional cooperation, optimizes resource allocation, reduces decision-making conflicts and enhances overall processing effectiveness. (2) Without a compensation mechanism, high costs in export regions and low benefits in import regions result in low cooperation willingness. The ecological compensation mechanism enhances willingness to cooperate by fairly distributing costs and benefits, optimizing long-term cooperation and overall gains. (3) Complete shared ecological compensation is optimal, though partial shared mechanisms are also effective in practice. Proper interest and ecological compensation ratios can significantly improve waste management efficiency and urban environment, strengthening long-term cooperation. The study theoretically expands the dynamic optimization and cooperation mechanism analysis in waste management, provides solutions for environmental policy formulation in cross-regional waste handling and offers new perspectives and tools for addressing complex issues in cross-regional environmental governance, including targeted policy recommendations with practical significance for enhancing cross-regional waste management.