Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

Citation
Elinda Esa and Nazli Anum Mohd Ghazali ( 2012), Corporate social responsibility and
corporate governance in Malaysian government-linked companies, Corporate Governance,
Emerald Group Publishing, Vol.12 No.3, 2012

Summary
This is a research paper, whereas the authors give a very insightful scenario and informative
about Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Malaysian government linked
companies. An empirical study being conducted in GLCs in Malaysian government linked to
investigate whether there has been a change in the level of corporate social responsibility
(CSR) disclosure and also to determine whether corporate governance attributes influence
CSR disclosure in the corporate annual report of Malaysian government linked companies.

Critique Reviews
1.0 Relevance of article
This journal was written by Elinda Esa

et al was relevant to the corporate governance.

Moreover, corporate Social responsibility is something that cannot be ignored and become a part
of obligation for companies towards society and in same time gain profit. This is a win-win
situation.
2.0 Purpose of the study
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there has been a change in the level of
corporate

social responsibility (CSR) disclosure

governance

and to determine

whether corporate

attributes influence CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports of Malaysian

government linked companies (GLCs). The purpose was clearly and concisely stated and agreed
with the title.
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Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

3.0 Issues /main problems /construct, variables and concept addressed by the Studies
3.0.1 Issues
There are two important issues or research question have been identified:
1. Has there been a change in the extent of CSR disclosure among Malaysian GLCs after the
introduction of the Silver Books?
2. Do corporate governance attributes influence CSR disclosure in Malaysian GLCs?
From my personal point of view,

this a very good study indeed to able to tell the effectiveness

of the implementation of Silver Books towards government linked companies in Malaysia. The
researchers emphasize something that sometimes been overlooked or ignored by some parties.
However, CSR practices are something new in Malaysia compared to other countries.The
purpose of the research agreed with the title and seemed to be of educational significance.
I believed that examining CSR in Malaysian GLCs would give some indication on whether
efforts and guideline implemented in enhancing CSR have had some positive impact on
corporate social activities. This will be a starting point for our very own local companies to
follow and contribute back to the society. In sum, believed this one of the reason why the
research want to conduct this study..
3.0.2 Construct
In the construct part, the authors manage to clearly states the control variables such as company
size, profitability and leverage.

For the control variable part, the authors did not mention or

quote from previous study as a reference as a guideline for this study. This will tend to confuse
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Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

the reader. The author also manages to identify the independent variables of corporate
governance, which includes dimensions such board size and independent directors. The
dependent variable mentioned in this study is corporate social responsibility which been
represented by CSR Index.
3.0.3 Conceptual Framework
There is no conceptual framework been provided in this study. The advantages of having a
conceptual framework included in this study will help the reader to understand. A reasonable
amount of research has been conducted on this topic based previous studies which helps provides
a profound understanding on this topic.

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

This is the conceptual framework that was depicted from the explanation of the journal. There
are three variables been included in this study, they are controlled variable, independent variables
and dependant variables.
4.0 Literature Review
The authors used several appropriate references in the introduction section. By giving details out
the definition on CSR and the evolution of CSR back on the 1980s in other countries until
recently. Futhermore , narrowed down it by focusing into a Malaysians scenario by introducing
the Silver Book that initiated by Malaysian Government and the The authors explained details
on every constructs and findings by cited others influential researchers in this study. Having
said that, it is worth the highlight that the amounts of literature that the authors reported are
reasonable in terms of applicability and contributed to the overall understanding of the subject to
the readers.

Personal data by treatment and control group was provided in table form and explained
with a short narrative.

Hypothesis one: A one way analysis of covariance revealed that the two groups were not
significantly different in terms of their scores on the 35 item final examination.

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

Hypothesis two: The mean attitudinal scores of the two groups were positive in both
replications, and there was no significant difference in the two groups attitudes about
computers.

Hypothesis three: There was a significant difference in minutes required to complete the
exam in replication one; however, there was no significant difference in replication two.

Comments: The findings were well organized, sectioned, and reported objectively. The
tables were well organized but, due to the difficulty of the statistical tests employed,
would not stand alone to the average reader.
Conclusions and implications were formulated with the knowledge that subjects for this
study used microtechnology extensively during a computer applications course. In this
investigation, final examination scores were independent of the method of testing. The
method of testing was not a determinant of how students felt about computers. Since
time required was not consistent over the two replications, the methods of testing as
well as other factors appear to influence the time requirements of test completion.

Comments: The conclusions were based on the findings and logically stated.

Additional research is needed in other classroom settings to see if consistent findings

about cognitive performances, time requirements, and attitude are achieved."

Comments: The recommendations were limited to a call for additional research in the
area.

Overall Critique

Microcomputers are being used for a variety of purposes, but research about their
instructional effectiveness lags behind adoption rates for the technology. Further, there is
a limited research base about the effects of microcomputers in vocational agriculture on
learning in the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains. The research base is even
more shallow when effects of testing students by computer technology are explored.

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

5.0 Research Design and Methodology

From my point of view, the authors clearly proposed a clear of

hypothesis that easy to

understand. There are six proposed hypothesis in this study that focuses on the extent of CSR
disclosure in the Malaysian GLCs .
H1 : There is a significant increase in the extent of CSR disclosure in the annual reports of Malaysian
GLCs after introduction of the Silver Book
H2 : There is a significant association between board size and the extent of CSR disclosure in Malaysian
GLCs

H3 : There is a significant association between independent directors and the extent of CSR
disclosure in Malaysia GLCs
H4 : There is a significant positive association between company size and the extent of CSR
disclosure in Malaysian GLCs
H5: There is a significant association between profitability and the extent of CSR disclosure
in Malaysia GLCs.
H5: There is a significant association between profitability and the extent of CSR disclosure
in Malaysia GLCs.

Comments:. The instruments and development were explained, and the reliability
coefficients of all possible tests were given. The population used was adequate. No
discussion of the statistical techniques was given in this particular section.

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

The methods used to gather the data for this article were clearly explained. In data and sample
section, the author clearly mentioned the 3 year period
introduction of the Silver Book.

such as the before and after the

The source on where the data were obtained from GLCS

companies that listed on Bursa Saham in both years 2005 and 2007. The list of GLCs extracted
from this website www.pcg.gov.my. In the year of 2005 there are 59 companies listed while the
figure for 2007 is 39. Excluding financial companies the final sample which only consists of 27
firms were listed in both years. In my opinion, the 27 firms as the representative for this study
are not adequate. The researcher should not exclude the financial companies.
In term of research instrument, the authors adopt Mohd Ghazali ( 2007) checklist in examining
CSR disclosure in Malaysian listed companies. The scoring was based on the existence of the
items as the study was focusing on the extent of disclosure. Each item in the checklist is
disclosed a score of 1 awarded if not a 0 will be recorded. The number of items disclosed was
then divided by the maximum possible score to arrive at the CSR disclosure index. The CSR
disclosure index was enclosed as an attachment.

The empirical results has been well explained by the authors for Dependent Variables and
Independent Variables and also for control variables and supported with previous research and
the results for this study with supporting justification to rationalize the results. The empirical
results have been presented in the table as below. The empirical results have been presented in
table 1 : The extent of disclosure : descriptive statistics,

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

The empirical results have been presented in the table Whereas in this, the authors mentioned
they are using the non-parametric Wilcoxon Test to examine the mean difference in cash holding
between the two subsample. An adequate explanation also been given for understanding.
Variable

Significant

Not significant

Results

Justification

Board Size

Said et al ( 2009)

Jensen ( 1993)

Significant

Independent
Directors

Cheng and
Courtney ( 2006)
Huatang and Jinguo
( 2007)
Donnelly and
Mulcany ( 2008)

Eng and Mak

( 2003)
Barako et al
( 2006)
Hanifa and
Cooke ( 2002)
Mohd Ghazali
and Weetman
( 2006)

Non- Significant

Company
Size

Wallace et al
( 1994)
Ahmed ( 1995)
Zarzeski ( 1996) ,
Hackston and Milne
( 1996)
Belkaoui and Karpik
( 1989)
Patten ( 1991),
Abdul Hamid
( 2004)
Mohd Ghazali
( 2007)

Larger board
size disclosed
significantly
more CSR
( Said et al
-2009)
Larger
proportion of
independent
disclosed less (
Eng and Mak
2003 and Barako
et al 2006)
Not primary
concern of
Independent
Directors
Independent
Director prefer
to focus more
on corporate
financial
Comprised
mainly of large
Malaysian GLCs
Size may not be
good indicator of
influencing CSR
in Malaysia

Profitability

Haniffa and Cooke

( 2005)
Said et al (2009)

Non- Significant

Patten ( 1991)
Richardson and
Welker ( 2001)
Abdul Hamid
( 2004)

Non- significant

Consistent with
Patten ( 1991)
Richardson and
Welker ( 2001)
Abdul Hamid
( 2004)
CSR disclosure
influence by public
rather than economic

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

pressure

Leverage

Naser et al ( 2002)
Ferguson et al ( 2002)

Ho and Wong
( 2001)
Chau and Gray
( 2002)
Huafang and
Jianguo ( 2007)
Haniffa and Cooke
( 2005)

Significant

Higher Leveraged
GLCs disclosed
more CSR
information in their
annual reports
Consistent with
Naser et al ( 2002)
Ferguson et al
( 2002)

From my opinion, this is because there is inadequate information being given here, I find it
difficult to understand the results.

Similar to that of table 5: The level of cash holdings and

corporate governance between family controlled and non-controlled provides no further

explanations and no discussion being mentioned to elaborate more regarding the results.
On the results part, the researcher addressed the question in this journal and give a clear
direction on the results and related it with the hypothesis that been mentioned in the earlier part.
The results as shown below:

6.0 List of References

Overall, this journal format used listing reference is consistent and all references given were
cited in the article. The authors cited a variety of sources, but it turns out that these he references
was not of recent one. I would recommend to the author to seek the most recent researches and

Noorain Imbug 2012484088

(MGT 920- Corporate Governance)

theories in order to update what are the latest trend or elements involved / dimension that should
be considered in the present environment.

7.0 Limitation and Major Conclusion

This was a very in-depth research project, particularly for a journal article. For the most part,
it was well written and well organized. Overall, it was a very interesting, significant
contribution to the field of research.
For further researcher , I would like to recommend this study will be conducted in Malaysia exspecially in effects of corporate governance in Small Medium Industries . This area is still under
research and interesting to explore.
Overall it is a good and well written journal with an informative for controlled family firm
about a good coporate governance. The piece when taken as a whole is relevant and holistic.

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