Oversight Role Research Articles

Youth, Drug and Substance Abuse and Policy in Zimbabwe

The article takes as its point of entry in youth studies, drug and substance abuse as one of the domineering ‘pandemics’ in Zimbabwe. Whereas globally scholarly attention on youth and drug and substance abuse is remarkable, in Zimbabwe, lacunae are enduring. Informed by research with, by and for the youth, the article reconnoitres the diverse contextual factors leading to drug and substance abuse among youth, and proffers policy options for addressing the issues. Drug and substance abuse and the requisite policy responses defy brush painting, homogeneity and unilineality. While the government may take a central and oversight role, effective responses to youth drug and substance abuse demands a multi-stakeholder approach including youth, their representative organisations, families, communities, civil society organisations and the government.

Board Characteristics and Shareholder's Value Creation of Insurance Companies Listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya

The corporate board ensures desirable shareholder value creation because of its immense role in strategic oversight, performance evaluations and governance. The board is at the center, as evidenced by the accelerated growth of private insurance companies worldwide. However, insurance companies in Kenya have experienced slow growth over the last decade. To get a clear understanding of the effects of the board on a corporation’s financial performance, it is vital to assess the association between the characteristics of the board characteristics and its creation of shareholder value. The study examined the impact of board characteristics on the shareholder’s value creation for Insurance companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The study aimed to establish the effect of board characteristics (size, diversity, independence, and expertise) on shareholder value creation in listed insurance companies. The shareholder, resource dependency, stewardship, and agency theories underpin the study. The study used a descriptive research design to analyze five insurance corporations listed on Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) for ten years from December 2010 to 2020. The study utilized data published in audited annual reviews and reports for the five selected insurance corporations listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. A correlational analysis was employed to test the degree and strength of the relationship between the variables understudy, and a regression model was developed. The study established that board expertise had the most significant impact on shareholder value creation, followed by board size, board diversity and board independence. The study recommended the prioritization of the board expertise to boost shareholder value creation, the optimization of board sizes depending on company needs and the inclusion of more women on boards.

Government Board of Director: The influence of Director Identifications on Human Capital Acquisition and Board Oversight Roles

Government Board of Director: The influence of Director Identifications on Human Capital Acquisition and Board Oversight Roles

Influence of Security Sector Reforms on Crime Prevention in Juba City, Republic of South Sudan

This paper uses data collected for an MA Thesis on the influence of security sector reform on crime prevention in Juba City South Sudan. The study was motivated by the dearth of studies in this academic area and the increased levels of insecurity and crime in Juba and its environs. The study was guided by four objectives; to establish perceptions of the Security Sector Reform Actors on functionality of security institutions roles on crime prevention in Juba City-South Sudan; to assess the influence of Security Sector Reform policies and legal provisions in prevention of crime, to determine the influence of donor technical assistance in prevention of crime and to establish and the nature of obstacles facing SSR and their influence in crime prevention in Juba City-South Sudan.This study was grounded on three theories; Legitimacy Chain, Three Dimensions of Governance, and Control Theories. The study used descriptive survey research design and Simple random sampling method in selecting respondents for the study. Key informants were selected by purposeful sampling. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as the main data collection tools. This study comprised of 162 main respondents and 20 Key informants respectively. The main method of data collection was the questionnaire. Inferential statistics were used to analyse and present quantitative data. Qualitative data from the interview guide was analyzed by content analysis and presented as verbatim reports and narratives. Amongst other major findings, the study established a relationship between; Functionality of security institutions roles and crime prevention in Juba City-South Sudan as a result of overlapping mandates and duplicity of roles with regard to security forces operations in Juba City-South Sudan. In addition, Donor technical assistance influenced crime prevention (p=0.01).Security Sector Reform policies and legal provisions in prevention of crime, and also donor technical assistance influenced crime prevention in Juba City-South Sudan. The study recommends that the government of South Sudan should ensure that the existing SSR policies and legal provisions are effectively enforced. There is also a need for Government of Sudan in conjunction with international community strengthen the oversight role of parliament and civil society. The study also recommends that there should also be inclusion of communities in the formulation and implementation of SSR policies and legal provisions. The study recommends that the government of South Sudan should seek more donor technical assistance to assist in crime prevention.

Corporate Political Activities and the SEC's Oversight Role in the IPO Process

AbstractWe study how a regulator (Securities and Exchanges Commission; SEC) responds to IPOs that have a higher political profile. We find that IPOs with issuers (intermediaries) that actively pursue political strategies receive more (less) SEC comment letters than IPOs without such actors. Cross‐sectional analysis reveals that the IPO's political environment moderates the relationship between social pressure for more corporate transparency and SEC scrutiny. Additional tests indicate that the political activities of issuers (intermediaries) contribute to a less (more) efficient IPO process. Overall, our findings suggest that politically active intermediaries have stronger incentives to accurately portray the IPO financial reporting environment than politically active issuers because they have greater reputational and political capital at stake; quite simply, the former have more to lose. We draw out the implications for theory, in terms of agency and reputation.

Exchange Comment Letters and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT How does regulatory oversight shape corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms spanning 2014 to 2019, we investigate the oversight role of stock exchanges by examining the effects of comment letters (CLs) on CSR. We find that receiving CLs positively correlates with the increment of CSR performance. Both investors’ attention and state ownership moderate this relation positively. Additionally, the positive relation is more pronounced in the subsample in a weak legal environment. Taken together, we provide causal evidence that supports the oversight role of CLs and the impression management theory of CSR.

Contending for the designs and features of integrated development planning in South Africa? An empirical analysis of the Limpopo Province

Background: The Sphere of Local Government in South Africa serves a pertinent role of realising the provision of basic municipal services. In this case, the legislative interventions consider it mandatory for every municipality to develop integrated development plans (IDPs) to facilitate their developmental agendas. These municipalities are required to undertake approval process of IDPs to eventually generate measurable municipal agenda as the basis for basic municipal service delivery.Aim: This empirical study sought to analyse contentious issues regarding the structural design and operational features of the IDP process.Setting: Some municipalities in the Limpopo Province were selected for case study purpose where data were collected. This was in two district municipalities.Methods: Semi-structured interviews with adept municipal officials and councillors as well as surveys with some members of the community were conducted to gather relevant data so that informed analysis could be generated.Results: The findings highlight that the fundamental challenges of designs and features manifest on both the development and the implementation parts of the IDP process.Conclusion: It is therefore proposed, on the one hand, that there is a need to strengthen municipal capacity building for officials to facilitate an effective IDP process. On the other hand, municipal councils are considered necessary to have the capacity to undertake their oversight role over the municipal executive and functions in driving the IDP process agenda. In this way, a remedial consideration suitable for various categories of municipalities should be introduced.Contribution: No contentious issues regarding the structural design and operational features of the integrated development planning process was discovered and also demonstrates that there is no one-size-fits-all regarding municipal planning and implementation.

Government bureaucrats and ethical conduct in Nigeria’s fourth republic: Implications for good governance

The recognition that ethical conduct is fundamental to accountability, transparency, fairness, equity, and quality service delivery which are the cornerstones of good governance is the reason for rules and regulations in the Nigerian government’s bureaucracy. This governmental administrative machinery, however, continues to face a crucial challenge of inefficiency and unethical practices. This study interrogates how ethical conducts in Nigerian Civil Service have impacted the country’s quest for good governance. The study anchors on the Weberian bureaucratic theory and engaged secondary data from fifty-one (51) articles gathered and analyzed using systematic review (SR) conducted between August 2021 and February, 2022. Findings reveal the misdemeanor and objectionable manifestations among civil servants despite legal instruments, efforts and reforms by the various successive governments aimed at repositioning it for effective and efficient service delivery. The consequence is the continuous weakening of public institutions, collapse of infrastructures, public distrust of government agencies and a sense of despair by the public. The study argues that building a vibrant civil society through public enlightenment and active and independent media is necessary to perform the crucial oversight role on civil servants in the country. This is pivotal to achieving the much needed good governance in the country.

Audit Committees, Corporate Governance, and the Quality of Financial Reporting: Evidence From Market Reactions to Earning Announcements

This empirical study examines the relation between the audit committee effectiveness and the quality of financial reporting measured as the magnitude of market reactions to earnings announcements. Results show that market reactions increase (1) as audit committee directors have more stock ownership in their firms; (2) as audit committees meet more frequently; (3) as audit committees are composed of a higher percentage of directors with expertise in the financial reporting and auditing process; and (4) when the external auditor of a firm is a Big 4 audit firm. Market reactions decrease when there are unaffiliated large block-holders. Results provide empirical evidence in supporting the proposition that a firm with the effective audit committee will maintain a high-quality financial reporting system and that capital markets respond more favorably to earnings news from such a firm. As such, these results support the public and professional efforts to improve the quality of financial reporting by strengthening the effectiveness of audit committees in their oversight role in the financial reporting and auditing process.

Accountability of unaccountable institutions: oversight of the press, social networks, and the Spanish Parliament over the Spanish king emeritus

Convictions of political corruption depend on public communication, since for citizens, to perceive deviant behaviours, these must receive attention. In Spain, this type of behaviour is part of the agendas of citizens, media, and politicians and, to fight against it, accountability is essential. In addition to the judiciary and legislature (in their oversight role), the media and social media help voters, MPs and others to make informed decisions and press for action. However, the interrelationships between different agents, types, and forms of control for accountability are a rather unexplored research topic, especially when considering non-accountable institutions (those that have power, but are not directly accountable to the electorate, such as the monarchy). The debate on the inviolability of the emeritus presents a perfect scenario to describe what formulas and what kind of sanctions (legal, labour, reputational or personal) for accountability have occurred in Spain in the case of a non-accountable institution. This study explores the agendas of media, Parliament, and Twitter (and their inter-influences) during the Geneva papers scandal. We analyzed 189,037 tweets, 1,220 journalistic pieces and 78 parliamentary initiatives related to the former monarch. The main results show that the media, social networks, and Parliament have acted as agents of accountability with Juan Carlos I, as if it were an accountable institution. Online newspapers and Twitter have led the oversight, while the parliamentary initiative has been ineffective and has essentially served as an instrument of partisan communication.

Negotiating Boundaries of Tolerance: The Scottish Police Authority and the Doctrine of Operational Independence

In Scottish Affairs in 2001, Kenneth Scott and Roy Wilkie, while discussing the appointments of chief constables, noted that ‘the real power in Scottish policing is probably revealed where those elements in the tripartite system [chief constables, local government and central government] interact’ (2001: 57) irrespective of the constitutional and legislative boundaries. This paper examines the nascent police governance arrangements by shining a spotlight on the status of the operational independence doctrine in the post-reform era. It revisits the Scottish Police Authority’s attempts to negotiate its own boundaries of influence since its formation. The discussion draws on the 2012 reform legislation, official policy agenda that led to the creation of the Scottish Police Authority ( Malik, 2018 ), a select number of interviews with key architects of the Scottish police reform conducted between 2013–2016, official parliamentary reports, public meeting minutes, and HMICS and Audit Scotland inspection reports. The analysis suggests that the reform agenda did not seek to address the broad interpretation of operational independence that played a key part in diminishing the influence and performance of the local police boards. On the one hand, the Authority have attempted to challenge the scope of operational independence but with limited success. Conversely, and contradictorily, the influence of Ministers and the Scottish Government has gradually expanded. This raises important questions in relation to the essence of operational independence, when it is invoked and crucially who it is invoked against. New boundaries of tolerance and influence need to be negotiated for the Scottish Police Authority to be able to play a more meaningful and independent oversight role in police governance.

Parliamentary engagement in fighting corruption: a discourse on the Parliament of Tanzania

PurposeThis study aims to examine the participation of the Parliament of Tanzania in the fight against corruption in the country.Design/methodology/approachA desk-based research approach based on the review of documents and legal instruments was used.FindingsThe results of this study show that the Parliament of Tanzania has a chequered performance in fighting corruption. While it has passed several anti-corruption-related laws and in some respects succeeded to hold a few government officials accountable for the abuse of public office, there is little evidence to demonstrate its contribution at fighting this conundrum. Factors contributing to this deficiency include irresponsiveness to corruption allegations involving Members of Parliament, parliament’s remote oversight of the anti-corruption agency and shrinking democratic space in the parliament.Practical implicationsTanzania has relatively high corruption levels. The country’s Development Vision 2025 envisages a nation free of corruption. Hence, efforts are needed from public and private sectors to overcome this conundrum. The parliament holds a special place in that fight. Through its representation, legislative and oversight roles and powers, parliament has a wider opportunity to strengthen anti-corruption in the country. This study shows that the Parliament of Tanzania has not been very effective in that regard. It offers suggestions to strengthen the parliament’s position and engagement to fight corruption.Originality/valueThere is scanty literature on the role of the Parliament of Tanzania in fighting corruption. This study is seminal, as it investigates the Tanzanian anti-corruption arsenal from a crucial organ that is vested with constitutional powers to make laws and oversee the executive and its agencies.

From detention officer to detention monitor: Reflections on staff experiences of confinement

In August 2019, a research workshop at the University of Melbourne brought together academics, practitioners, advocates, people with experience of living and working in confined settings to explore parallels between the spaces and practices of care and control in different places of confinement. A former immigration detention officer, later inspector and monitor of closed environments, joined the discussion. Along with other voices of ‘lived experience’, he offered a unique perspective on working in places where a ‘duty of care’ can mean less about how people should be treated or cared for, and more about guarding oneself and one’s employer against personal and institutional criticism. In the following conversation (with one of the editors of this Special Themed Collection of papers that arose from that workshop) he shares experiences of working in immigration detention, in both operational and oversight roles, and the tensions between the two. He reflects on cultures of suspicion and silence, bearing witness to experiences of violence and suffering, and what it means to be human in conditions of confinement.

Designing a model of requirements for fulfilling the oversight role of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the annual budget of the country

Designing a model of requirements for fulfilling the oversight role of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the annual budget of the country

Legislative oversight and executive aggrandisement in the Nigeria’s COVID-19 emergency governance

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 Pandemic has compelled governments across nations of the world to devise and implement emergency measures for curtailing the spread of the lethal virus. A fundamental debate is the relevance of legislature’s involvement in the emergency decision-making and the extent to which this representative assembly is able to assert its oversight role by making the government accountable to the public in emergency governance. Nigeria, like many other nations across the globe, has called upon government emergency powers to deal with the pandemic. This paper examines the imperative of legislative oversight of emergency governance and interrogates the extent to which the legislature has been able to monitor, control and make government accountable to the public in the COVID-19 emergency response in Nigeria. The study which is qualitative, relied heavily on secondary data and adopted a systematic literature review for data collection and analysis. Findings revealed the limited legislative oversight of government’s emergency declarations for dealing with the pandemic which further perpetuated executive dominance in the governance process of Nigeria. The invocation of the Quarantine Act of 1929 by the President instead of its state of emergency powers, the latter which constitutionally requires legislature’s oversight, and the subsequent issuing of COVID-19 regulations, portrays executive aggrandisement. The relegation of the legislative oversight in the use of emergency powers for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic enhances executive dominance and undermines the democratic principles of checks and balances with its concomitant implications for accountability, inclusivity and democratic legitimacy required in emergency governance.

Audit committees’ oversight role in developing countries: evidence from Jordan

PurposeThis study aims to explore the opinions of audit committee (AC) members on the extent to which they fulfil the oversight role vested in them by the Jordanian Corporate Governance Code (JCGC).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses semi-structured interviews with 18 AC members.FindingsThe findings suggest that although ACs largely meet the JCGC’s recommendations, their substantive oversight role in practice is limited. In particular, the responses indicate that ACs suffer from a lack of real power, especially concerning the appointment (or removal) of external auditors and the evaluation of internal control. Moreover, ACs have no actual role in issues deemed important for financial reporting quality (e.g. reviewing management estimates and evaluating chief financial officer (CFOs) and internal audit executives).Originality/valueThis study provides rich insights into ACs’ oversight processes in a setting outside the Anglo-Saxon corporate governance model where knowledge is scant on the ACs’ real function. Hence, the study injects the literature with new qualitative-based evidence from a peculiar civil law country. Also, Jordan has spent time and energy trying to strengthen corporate governance practices to boost investors’ confidence. However, the interviewees’ responses indicate that the oversight role of the AC is still far from what the regulators anticipate. Therefore, the findings offer useful feedback for regulators to think more deeply about the current governance regulations. The feedback from this study can be extended to other developing countries with similar institutional environments, especially countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Voluntary cybersecurity disclosure in the banking industry of Bangladesh: does board composition matter?

PurposeCybersecurity disclosure (CSD) provides users with valuable information and significant insights about a firm's susceptibility to cyber risk and its management. It is argued that the board of directors, with its oversight role, should be vigilant in managing cyber risk and disclosures. This study aims to measure the extent of CSD of the banking companies and examines the association between the characteristics of board composition (i.e. board size, board independence and gender diversity) and CSD.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted automated content analysis to find out the extent of CSD in the listed commercial banks of an emerging country, Bangladesh, where CSD is voluntary. Further, multiple linear regression is applied to determine the relationship between board composition and CSD.FindingsThe findings reveal an increasing trend of CSD over the sample period (2014–2020). The study confirms a significant positive relationship between board independence and CSD. The study also demonstrates that the higher presence of female directors on the board is associated with higher CSD. However, no consistently significant relationship is found between board size and CSD.Research limitationsThe study is based on listed banking companies only. Hence, the results can not be generalised to companies in other sectors. Also, it is important to acknowledge that we focused on the quantity (not the quality) of CSD contained in annual reports.Practical implicationsThe study provides an overall understanding of current trends of CSD in the Banking sector of a developing country. Regulators may use our findings to understand the current level of CSD and assess the need for issuing guidance in this regard. The association between board composition and CSD has implications both for banks when selecting board members and policymakers when establishing requirements concerning board composition under corporate governance guidelines.Originality/valueThis is one of the very few studies in the context of an emerging economy where CSD is voluntary. The paper contributes to a narrow stream of research investigating CSD and its association with board composition. Notably, it contributes to understanding how board composition is associated with CSD in the banking industry, which is highly exposed to cyber risk.

A network of empirical ethics teams embedded in research programmes across multiple sites: opportunities and challenges in contributing to COVID-19 research and responses

Covid-19 continues to teach the global community important lessons about preparedness for research and effective action to respond to emerging health threats. We share the COVID-19 experiences of a pre-existing cross-site ethics network-the Global Health Bioethics Network-which brings together researchers and practitioners from Africa, Europe, and South east Asia. We describe the network and its members and activities, and the work-related opportunities and challenges we faced over a one-year period during the pandemic. We highlight the value of having strong and long-term empirical ethics networks embedded across diverse research institutions to be able to: 1) identify and share relevant ethics challenges and research questions and ways of ’doing research’; 2) work with key stakeholders to identify appropriate ways to contribute to the emerging health issue response – e.g. through ethics oversight, community engagement, and advisory roles at different levels; and 3) learn from each other and from diverse contexts to advocate for positive change at multiple levels. It is our view that being both embedded and long term offers particular opportunities in terms of deep institutional and contextual knowledge and relationships with and access to a wide range of stakeholders in place. Being networked offers opportunities to draw upon a wide range of expertise and perspectives operating at multiple levels, and to bring together internal and external perspectives (i.e. different positionalities). Long term funding means that the people and resources are in place and ready to respond in a timely way. However, many tensions and challenges remain, including difficulties in negotiating power and politics regarding roles that researchers and research institutions play in an emergency, and the position of empirical ethics activities in programmes of research more specifically. We discuss some of these tensions and challenges, and consider the implications for our own and similar networks in future.

Credible and Authentic Leadership Development in Organizations

Leadership practice that is founded on values is the new order in contemporary organizations that operate under complex and dynamic environments. The survival of such organizations requires the review of classical leadership theories and the adoption of newer approaches that have heightened the demand for effective leadership. Leaders’ misdeeds such as those witnessed in Enron and WorldCom, hypocrisy in the pulpit, infidelity in the family unit, politics of deceit, and so on have dented the leader’s image and the followers have lost the confidence they had in them. These developments justify the need to embrace authentic and credible leadership as an alternative leadership approach to rebuild followers’ trust and sustain operations of the organizations. The principles of authenticity and credibility are more critical than ever before in the restoration of confidence to followers where credibility has waned. It is on this basis that this qualitative study was undertaken to understand authentic and credible leadership development. The objective of the study was to identify how credibility and authenticity relate and the values and qualities that leaders perceive as important for defining credible and authentic leaders. The study adopted a qualitative research design. Three congregants from a Baptist church located in Nairobi city, Kenya were interviewed for their views about leadership, differences between authenticity and credibility, qualities of credible leaders, how credible leadership can be developed, outcomes of credible leadership, and the followers’ role incredible leadership development. The findings resonated with what is known in literature and in theory. The qualities that were found to define credible leaders included being forward-looking, visionary, compassionate, supportive, good listener, having integrity, being firm, being fair, and acting as role models. The fear instilled by leaders to the followers was found to be an impediment to the followers to effectively play their oversight role. The conclusion drawn was that credibility is a must-have tool for leaders to meaningfully engage their followers with a view to providing solutions to the problems faced at the workplace and addressing their needs. It smoothens the relationship and provides an enabling environment where leaders and followers can freely engage.

Let the people speak! Resisting the erosion of the right to public participation in the wake of The Federation of Fly Fishers v The Minister of Environmental Affairs

The need for public participation in environmental decisions is accepted in both international and South African law. In the run up to, and just after, the transition to democracy, South Africa was exemplary in many instances in ensuring that participation occurred in a meaningful and broad-based way. In recent years, however, some may question whether the underlying rationale for public participation is still as valued by government, or whether it is being diluted to a mechanistic procedural requirement reminiscent of the past. Disputes about the way in which requirements to give effect to public participation are being implemented have recently surfaced in the courts in respect of several environmental issues. There has been strong public opposition to municipal service delivery regarding waste and water, seismic testing off the South African coast, and law-making activities regarding trout. This article considers the court’s oversight of public participation processes in respect of one of those issues — recent decisions on the introduction of executive regulations. It does so by tracing the particular dynamics regarding the need for public participation in South Africa and assessing the way in which the court has adjudicated public participation disputes in the law-making context. It finds that the court appears to be willing to play its oversight role in a way which is true to the underlying ethos of democratic decision-making in the environmental context, albeit that further opportunities for the court to consider the full range of matters involving participation should be welcomed.