MASTER OF ACCOUNTING

EPPA6714

SEMINAR PERAKAUNAN SEKTOR AWAM /

PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING SEMINAR

NAME ADRIAN CHONG FU SEN

STUDENT ID P107633
TITLE ARTICLE CRITIQUE
LECTURER DR. NORIDA BASNAN
SEMESTER 2 2021/2022
1.0 Title

Content Analysis of Sustainability Reporting on Malaysian Local Authority Websites

2.0 Author

Dr. Corina Joseph.

3.0 Year of Publication

2010.

4.0 Article Summary

This article studies about the sustainability reporting by Malaysian local authorities via
website. Sustainability has been an issue in Malaysia that draws the attention of various
parties including the government and non-governmental bodies. Sustainability can be
broken down into 3 elements which are social, environment and economic (S-E-E).

At the local government level, Local Agenda 21 (LA 21), an urban program was launched
to achieve higher level of urban services and higher quality of urban life of the community.
However, community support and participation are important for such urban program to
success. With that, this research has chosen to use the local authorities as the sample. This
is because, under the local government, the community are keen to know about public value
that the government must generate which includes social, environment and economic
benefits. These are aligned with the components of sustainability reporting. As such, more
stakeholders today are interested in sustainability reporting. Sustainability reporting
requires involvement not only from local authority, but also from National Audit
Department (NAD) and practitioners in improving accountability and transparency.
There is not much research on public sector social disclosure and internet disclosure have
been carried out. Hezri (2004) said that good governance must have proper communication
within the community. Mohd-Ali et al. (2006) in their findings reported that in Malaysia,
corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an information reported to the public popularly via
local government website. In the turbulence time now, sustainability reporting in public
sector is highly needed. According to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), public agencies
in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and United Kingdom are actively reporting
environmental and social impact of their operations. In Hong Kong, environmental
performance reports by public agencies are made available on their website. In Italy on the
other hand, sustainability reporting by local government has even been used as dialogue
tools within the community. Local government uses Internet to disseminate wide range of
information. Yuen et al. (2006) reported that the use of information, communication and
technology (ICT) is effective to facilitate communication due to the higher penetration rate
among the community. There are no known studies done on website sustainability
reporting in the public sector as past studies usually focused on sustainability disclosure in
annual reports. With that, the author decided to study on sustainability reporting by
Malaysian local authorities via websites which will add on to the literature later.

The author adopted the GRI definition of sustainability reporting, which is “a vehicle to
assess economic, environmental and social impacts of the organization and its overall
contribution to sustainable development”. According to GRI, sustainability reporting by
the public sector only focused on sustainability strategies instead of sustainability
performance. On the other hand, most other researchers reported that on the website of
private sector, most companies reported on environmental responsibilities first, then
followed by economic and social information. The past literatures have shown that both
public sectors and private sectors reported different information on their websites. This is
highly due to the difference in their objectives as well.

The research method used by the author is content analysis of Malaysian local authority
websites. 139 samples of local authority websites were analyzed. The extent of
sustainability reporting was measured based on total sentences related to sustainability
 information reported on the website. In structuring the content analysis instrument, the
author used Jose and Lee’s categorization list for environment category, added on with
social and economy categories. The data is then analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) version 15.

The outcome of the study shows that Malaysian councils reported more economic
information than social and environmental information via webpages. However, websites
are not properly utilized despite it is an important tool to disseminate sustainability
information. Even though there is a positive disclosure on sustainability activities, it is less
impactful due to low disclosure on the financial information with regards to sustainable
development agenda. On the brighter side, this study reveals that larger councils such as
city councils are trying to achieve accountability and transparency through website
reporting.

5.0 Article Critique

Straight Forward Title

The title of this study is very clear and concise. Readers can easily understand what this
article is all about. The title has spelled out the research method to be used, which is content
analysis. The title also contains the data that the author collects, which is sustainability
information. Lastly, even the sample of this study, Malaysian local authority is also in the
title. According to Wintersberger and Saunders (2020), a good research title provides
interesting and new insights and contributions to the current literature. As the author
mentioned in this article that no such research has been carried out, the author cleverly
formulates such title that easily catch the attention of readers.
Clear Motive of Study

The author has made her motive of this study very clear in this article. The author has done
sufficient research in identifying the gap for this study to fill in. From the article, the author
mentioned that there is no known research on website sustainability reporting has been
carried out. Therefore, the author wants to conduct this study as this study will contribute
to current literature, as well as assisting the authorities in formulation of policies in
encouraging website sustainability reporting among the local authority. The author has
made her stand very clear and gave readers a clear idea of what is this research is going to
uncover.

Proper Citation and References

The author has cited all relevant literatures and sources that she relied on for this research.
She also included a proper reference list at the end of this article.

Detailed Explanation Notes

This article contains explanation notes just before the reference list. The explanation is
good in helping readers to further understand certain terms or terminologies used in this
research. Instead of explaining these terms in the body of the article that might confuse
readers due to high volume of words, the author put them under the explanation notes.

Step-By-Step Research Execution

The author has stated very clearly on the steps she executed for this research. The author
used content analysis to collect her data. The author looked for data related to sustainability
information. The data collected is in terms of number of total sentences. In developing the
content analysis instrument, the author adapted Jose and Lee’s categorization list on
environment category and added on the economic and social categories from other
literatures. The steps involved in calculating total sentences were also provided. In the
event of irregularities such as ambiguous data, the mitigation steps were also provided.
After all data collected, it is then analyzed using SPSS 15.0.

Limitations of Current Study and Future Study Recommendations

The author has stated the limitation of the current studies. This is an honest disclosure by
the author to avoid misunderstanding among readers of this article. Some limitations
include slow Internet access and difficulties in accessing some of the websites.
Furthermore, this article only study information for September 2008. Any information
beyond is not captured in this research. The current study also unable to determine the exact
causes for the level of disclosure. In extending this study in the future, the author suggested
that other government agencies related to public services may be used as samples.
Government linked companies can also be used as samples of this study.

Missing Explanation on Malaysian Local Authorities Categories

In this article, the author mentioned about city council, municipal council and district
council. However, it could have been better if the author has explained on the differences
between them. This is because, the author did mention that larger councils are on their way
on achieving greater accountability and transparency, but what are the larger councils? The
author could have mentioned the characteristics and differences of each council for readers’
better understanding.

Error in Results Interpretation

There is minor error in result interpretation. The author interpreted that 97.8% of the
councils did not have separate or combined departments on environmental functions. The
correct results should be 96.4%.
 Combined Research Question

The research question for this study is “What and how much sustainability information is
reported on Malaysian local authority websites?”. Perhaps, the author could have separated
it into:
- What sustainability information is reported on Malaysian local authority website?
- How much sustainability information is reported on Malaysian local authority website?
It will be clearer for readers.

6.0 Discussion Questions

1. In your opinion, what is the best definition that defines ‘sustainability’?

2. Is website a good platform to report on sustainability information by the public
sector? Provide justification.

7.0 References

1. Joseph, C. (2010). Content analysis of sustainability reporting on Malaysian local

authority websites. The Journal of Administrative Science, 7(1), 101-125.
2. Wintersberger, D., & Saunders, M. (2020). Formulating and clarifying the research
topic: insights and a guide for the production management research community.
Production, 30.