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This study aims to evaluate the state of preservation of one of the most famous manuscripts dated back to the 15th century using some analytical techniques to identify the manuscript components, explain its deterioration mechanisms and produce some solutions for conservation processes in future studies.

The analytical techniques used were visual assessment, digital microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) with EDX, pH measurement, attenuated total reflection – Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR/FTIR) and cellulose crystallinity.

Stains, missed parts and scratching were the most common aspects of deterioration. Some insects were observed by digital microscope. The SEM showed that linen fibers and goat skin were used to manufacture paper sheets and leather binding. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis proved that niobium and tantalum were added during the manufacture of paper sheets. Carbon black ink was the main writing material. The other pigments used were cinnabar in red ink, gold color from brass and blue color from lapis lazuli. FTIR analysis proved that some chemical changes were noticed. Low crystallinity of the historical paper was obtained. There was a reduction in the pH value of the historical bookbinding.

The importance of the analytical techniques used to detect the main components, forms and mechanism of deterioration of the studied manuscript. The elements of niobium and tantalum were added to paper sheets, which protected them from deterioration. The insects such as house flies and Sitophilus granarius were found in the manuscripts.

This paper aims to develop an innovation management framework for achieving sustainability by managing risks associated with innovative solutions during the design process.

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a research methodology was designed to achieve four objectives. Firstly, a literature review was conducted to investigate the concepts of sustainability, innovation, innovation management and innovation and the design process. Secondly, three case studies were selected and analysed to validate the identified risks of innovation and to investigate the role of innovation management towards managing risks of innovation during the design process. Thirdly, a survey questionnaire was carried out with a representative sample of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt to examine their perception and application of innovation management as an approach to managing risks of innovative solutions during the design process. Finally, developing an innovation management framework to achieve sustainability through managing risks associated with innovative solutions during the design process.

The literature review revealed that innovation plays a significant role towards achieving sustainability objectives, but integrating innovative solutions during the design process is frequently associated with risks. During the course of this research, 30 risks of innovation were identified and classified into four categories of product, process, person and press. Case studies showed that ADFs that applied innovation management approaches were successful in managing the risks associated with innovative solutions, whereas others that failed to use such approaches failed to meet sustainability objectives. Results of the survey questionnaire revealed that ADFs not only recognised the importance of innovative solutions in developing sustainable projects but also showed a gap between theory and practice. “Project delivery” is the most important type of innovation for ADFs in Egypt, followed by “building technologies” and “organisational culture”. Moreover, there is a misalignment between ADFs’ perceptions and the strategies used to deliver successful innovations. The highest risks of innovation are “unanticipated cost of innovation”, “manufacturing technologies and development issues” and “failing to meet technical criteria”.

Because of the conceptual nature of the developed framework, it has to be tested and validated to ensure its capability to achieve sustainability through managing the risks of innovative solutions during the design process which, in this research, adopted the Royal Institute of British Architects plan of work stages. Moreover, the lack of data availability directed this study to present and analyse only three case studies.

This research presents a practical solution to achieve sustainability through managing risks of innovation during the design process. It is a structured tool that can be used by ADFs in Egypt towards facilitating the shift in the direction of a more economically viable, environmentally friendly and socially acceptable built environment.

Although innovative design solutions are needed in developing sustainable buildings, a practical and systematic framework to manage associated risks during the design process is still lacking. In addition, current studies are business-oriented and need to be reinterpreted to fit with the architectural, engineering and construction disciplines. Thus, this research developed an innovation management framework to achieve sustainability through managing the risks associated with innovative solutions during the design process, which represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not been previously explored.

Electronic government (e-government) is perceived as an effective tool to enhance accountability in public organizations. However, e-government implementation to enhance accountability is still unclear and involves many complex processes because of the multiple accountabilities disorder. The e-government elements that contribute to mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are still underdeveloped in the current literature. This paper aims to provide understanding on how e-government enhances public organizations’ accountability by highlighting the key elements of e-government that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships.

This study adopts a qualitative case study approach by using the case of Jordan Customs. Data were collected using a triangulation approach that involved semi-structured interviews, document reviews and observation.

The findings revealed that the e-government elements that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are classified into three contexts, namely, technological, environmental and organizational aspects. The technological elements include systems integration, single window and electronic connectivity. The environmental elements embrace public participation and partnership council. The organizational elements comprise having well-defined strategic plan and risk management approach.

This study contributes and gives further insight into how to address the confusion, fuzziness and dysfunctions in accountability relationships existing in the literature by providing several success elements that mitigate the problematic of disorder between accountability relationships in public organizations. The paper highlights the need to investigate further elements, particularly, in the organizational context, to assist public organizations in improving their performance to enhance accountability in their operations.

This study provides guidelines for future e-government implementation strategy in public organizations, particularly, in the context of developing countries, as most of the recent studies of e-government in developing countries indicated that they are suffering from difficulty of managing e-government implementation to promote accountability successfully and are struggling with a lack of resources and experiences to handle this new trend of technology.

This study is of a significant value, as it is one of the preliminary studies that empirically extend the accountability dimensions suggested by Koppell (2005) with the key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability proposed by Heeks (1998b) and other current literature. This paper enriches the body of literature by providing some new key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability in public organizations. It also contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of knowledge by adding further interpretation on how these elements reduce the existing confusions and dysfunctions in accountability relationships.

This study aims to compare the value relevance of accounting numbers prepared under the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards with those produced under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Takaful companies (TC).

The authors assess the value relevance of accounting numbers using the Easton and Harris (1991) and Ohlson (1995) return and price models. They also use 54 insurance companies from 10 developing countries in Asia and the Middle East from 2006 to 2015.

The analysis shows that book value is significantly related to stock price under AAOIFI and IFRS. It also shows that TC adopting AAOIFI accounting standards have a more significant effect on stock price. This suggests that AAOIFI standards are more value relevant than IFRS.

TC and their stakeholders can use the findings to determine which accounting standards (IFRS or AAOIFI) produce the more relevant accounting information. This study is useful for investors that consider Islamic ethical practices to make their investment decisions for the standards-setting bodies that focus on establishing accounting standards for the Takaful industry.

The authors investigate a new aspect of the topic of value relevance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, they believe this is the first paper examining the value relevance of TC’ accounting information prepared under AAOIFI and IFRS.

This paper aims to examine the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and firm value (FV), as well as, pinpoints the role of the audit quality (AQ) as a moderating variable on such impact; where the authors hypothesize that AQ modulates the relationship between ESG disclosure and the FV.

Data of a sample of firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange Market (EGX) were collected over the period of 2017–2021 and analyzed using the regression and 2SLS models.

The results suggested that: (1) the ESG has a significant positive impact on the FV in the EGX, and (2) AQ has a significant impact, as a moderating variable, on the relationship between ESG disclosure and FV.

The findings would help the Egyptian market authorities in realizing the importance of integrating ESG information within the financial reports of the listed firms. The findings could also help in developing effective disclosure procedures to provide shareholders with useful information.

This paper contributes to the literature regarding the ESG disclosure components and the FV value by considering AQ in testing such relationship.

The study seeks to evaluate the extent and quality of environmental reporting following a longitudinal analysis and covering a wide spectrum of industries in a single frame. The study also attempts to identify the set of most favored environmental reporting items by firms and items which are least disclosed. Furthermore, the study attempts to test whether certain corporate attributes such as firm size, age of the firm, leverage ratio, profitability, presence of independent directors in the board and gender diversity have any influencing power over environmental disclosure practices. The whole study has been carried out from legitimacy theory setting.

The study follows longitudinal analysis to identify the extent and quality of environmental disclosures. A self-constructed checklist of 12 environmental reporting items has been developed analyzing the annual report and content analysis method is followed to measure the extent and quality of environmental disclosures and identify environmental reporting items which are mostly disclosed and which are least disclosed. The study further uses panel data regression analysis to investigate whether certain corporate attributes have any impact on environmental disclosures using multiple linear regression. Total of 345 annual reports of listed financial and nonfinancial institutions have been observed in this study ranging from 2015 to 2019.

The key finding suggests that strict enforcement of Green Banking Rules 2011 fosters country’s commercial banks to invest more to protect the environment and commercial banks encourage nonfinancial institutions for environmental performance and related disclosures through finance. Therefore, almost 50% of sample firms disclose their environmental performance through reporting in either narrative, quantitative or monetary format which was only 2.23% in the last decade. Findings also reveal that tree plantation is the most reported environment disclosure followed by investment in renewable energy and green infrastructural projects and the least reported items are fund allocation for climatic changes and carbon management policy. Further analysis shows that firm size and leverage ratio both have positive impact on environmental reporting.

An in-depth analysis may be conducted to identify why certain environmental items are least disclosed such as fund allotment for climatic changes, carbon management policy, etc. and how corporations may earn social appreciation and motivation by investing in those least preferred items in legitimacy theory setting. Future research may also take into consideration other corporate attributes which are not considered in the study.

The study conducted an in-depth analysis to understand the most favored form of environmental disclosures (narrative/quantitative/monetary) and their extent after incorporation of regulatory guidelines, which is the first of its kind in the research of environmental disclosures. The study indeed contributes to the documentation of environmental reporting in the context of a developing country where there is a lack of longitudinal analysis from the lens of legitimacy theory. Moreover, a wide spectrum of industries has been taken into consideration which facilitates the generalized findings on the environmental disclosure practices of corporations in Bangladesh.

本研究擬評估公司報告環境方面的程度和質量, 以及對就環境報告披露而言、最受青睞和最不受歡迎的項目加以處理。研究亦擬測試企業屬性對實踐環境信息披露的影響。

研究使用內容分析法、去測量環境信息披露的程度和質量。研究使用多元回歸分析、去探討企業屬性對環境信息披露的影響。研究涵蓋孟加拉國上市公司共345個年度報告, 涵蓋的年期為2015年至 2019年。

研究結果似乎顯示綠色金融規則 - 2011 、成功鼓勵機構為保護環境而投放更多資源; 機構最樂於匯報的項目為植樹, 而披露最少的則為氣候變化和碳管理政策。進一步的研究分析顯示, 公司的規模和杠杆比率均會對環境匯報帶來正面的影響。

本研究豐富了關於發展中國家環境匯報的官方文件記錄, 而在這類國家, 透過合法化理論而進行的縱貫性分析研究頗為缺乏。本研究以深度分析法、去瞭解環境信息披露方面最受青睞的信息披露方式 (故事形式的敘述/定量形式/金融形式), 也去瞭解納入強制的規管指引後環境信息披露的程度; 就此而言, 本研究為這類環境信息披露研究的首個研究。

This paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of cultural dimensions (masculinity, individualism and long-term orientation) on the association between profitability and corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED).

The authors apply the meta-analysis technique developed by Hunter et al. (1982) and Hunter and Schmidt (2000) for a sample of 48 published studies over the period of the past 20 years.

The authors find that masculinity, individualism and long-term orientation moderate the association between profitability and CSED. Given the weight of US studies on the overall sample, the authors conduct a sensitivity analysis to examine how this factor may affect the findings. After excluding these studies, only long-term orientation and individualism remain strong moderators of the association between profitability and CSED.

This study provides further evidence on the impact of institutional frameworks on CSED. It has, also, policy implications for managers of multinational corporations.