2013 Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-03-2014-005

2013 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: Social Responsibility Journal, Volume 10, Issue 1

The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award for Social Responsibility Journal

"Health and medical tourism: a kill or cure for global public health"

C. Michael Hall
Professor in the Department of Management, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the international initiative (Agenda 21) on the level of sustainability disclosures by Malaysian local authority websites.
Design/methodology/approach - The influence of the LA 21 program is considered using the institutional isomorphism and a mixed method research design.
Findings - Content analysis of website disclosures by 139 local authorities shows that it is the council’s commitment to the LA 21 program by explicitly stating this commitment on their website that is linked to higher sustainability disclosures and not the council’s actual involvement in the program. Interview findings provided evidence of both normative and mimetic isomorphism in relation to the LA 21 program. The paper identifies the multiple effect of isomorphism for the LA 21 program using both quantitative and qualitative research designs.
Practical implications - The LA 21 program is an example of an international commitment by many countries towards improving sustainability reporting. This paper shows how the decision by Malaysia to agree to this program has improved website sustainability reporting by Malaysian local authorities, starting from the LA 21 pilot project involving only a few authorities to involvement by all 145 authorities.
Originality/value - This adds to a growing body of literature in public sector disclosure and sustainable development by showcasing how an international initiative can impact sustainability reporting at the local level.
Keywords - Annual reports, Isomorphism, LA 21 program, Local authorities, Malaysia, Sustainability reporting, Websites

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/17471111211272561

This article originally appeared in Volume 8 Number 4, 2012, Social Responsibility Journal

The following articles were selected for this year's Highly Commended Award

"Perceptions of corporate social responsibility in Kazakhstan"

Yelena Smirnova

This article originally appeared in Volume 8 Number 3, 2012, Social Responsibility Journal

"Measuring the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in financial services: a narrative-inductive approach"

Musa Obalola
Ismail Adelopo

This article originally appeared in Volume 8 Number 3, 2012, Social Responsibility Journal

"Perceptions of corporate social responsibility amongst immigrant entrepreneurs"

Fara Azmat
Ambika Zutshi

This article originally appeared in Volume 8 Number 1, 2012, Social Responsibility Journal