Commerce and Management

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    Factors Influencing on Career Choice of Management and Commerce Undergraduates in National Universities in Sri Lanka
    (Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2020) Saranapala, I. S.; Devadas, U. M.
    Selecting one’s career wisely and rightly is a core factor for performance, individual satisfaction and societal wellbeing. Identifying what determines career choice among undergraduates can have many a benefit. This study, therefore, aims at exploring the influence of various factors on career choice decision among management and commerce undergraduates in national universities in Sri Lanka. The existing literature in this regard, within the study context, is skeletal, and that this study, having explained about the socio-demographical composition of management and commerce undergraduates, achieved three research objectives; to assess the level of career choice among Sri Lankan national university management and commerce undergraduates; to identify the priorities of factors affecting career choices; and thirdly, to assess the influence of such career choice factors on level of career choices among Management and Commerce undergraduates in the national universities in Sri Lanka. This study designed as a postpositivist study, taking all national universities that have commerce and management streams as the population while using systematic random sampling. Data were collected using self reported questionnaire from 371 final year management and commerce, undergraduates in six Sri Lankan national universities. Correlation and regression analysis were used in analyzing data. Survey results revealed that personal factors and Job-related factors are the most influential factors on determining graduates’ career choice. Researchers concluded that, personal factors highly influence on career choices that implicate graduates be choosier in deciding their careers rather accepting available and demanded careers in the country. Further, it was concluded that majority of the graduates, concerned have moderately level career awareness. That implicates that graduates may not find their rightly matching career at their earliest, instead, they may realize it, after starting work. The identified implications guided the authors to recommend strong career development activities by the universities through their curricula and out of curricula activities to create career awareness of the most demanding and prioritized careers while motivating the graduates to accept such available careers.
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    Predictors of Consumer Creditworthiness: Evidence from Personal Loan Borrowers of a Leading Public Bank in Sri Lanka
    (Department of Finance, University of Kelaniya., 2023) Nadeesha, R. P. S.; Madhushani, P. W. G.
    Purpose: The motivation of this study is to explore the significant determinants of consumers’ creditworthiness which support the development of a credit scoring model as non-performing loans are a major problem in lending institutions. Design/Methodology/Approach: Data were collected from four branches of a leading Commercial Bank in the Gampaha District under the convenience sampling technique with 130 personal loan borrowers as the study sample. Findings: The logit model test resulted that age, level of education, and monthly income, are positively influencing the creditworthiness of the borrowers. Increasing the number of dependents and the tenure of the loan have more chances of default. 39% to 56% of the dependent variable was explained by the independent variables in the regression model and the model predicted default correctly by 85.4%. Originality: The study contributes to the existing literature in terms of identifying important predictors for developing a credit-scoring model while helping lenders to assess the creditworthiness of personal loan applicants. Hence the study will assist in taking effectual measures to enhance the quality of the credit approval process and ultimately reduce the losses of lending institutions from bad debt.
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    Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures: Evidence from the Listed Companies in Sri Lanka
    (Department of Finance, University of Kelaniya., 2023) Sarmila, K.; Niresh, J. A.
    Purpose: The primary objective of this study is to investigate the nexus between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosure in Sri Lankan listed firms. Design/Methodology/Approach: Corporate governance was evaluated using the following criteria: board size, board independence, role duality, women representation, audit committee size, and ownership concentration. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) methodology was utilized to assess Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) using content analysis. This study collects balanced panel data from 44 Sri Lankan listed firms over a five-year period, from 2018 to 2022. Because of their highly regulated nature, the banking, finance, insurance, and investment trust industries were omitted from the sample. All of the information was gathered from yearly reports published on the Colombo Stock Exchange's website in Sri Lanka. Findings: Test results suggest that board size, independence, and women representation have no significant relationship with CSRD. Role Duality, Audit Committee Size and Ownership Concentration exhibit a significant association with CSRD. Moreover, the mean value of the CSRD is 44.56 percent for the selected listed companies in Sri Lanka. Originality: This study contributes to determining the extent to which companies have adhered to the GRI as a widely acknowledged disclosure framework. It provides value to the company's management in order for them to make better judgments on whether the firms should involve them in more corporate governance disclosures in order to raise the degree of CSR to enhance transparency and to promote stakeholders' well-being. The outcome also has ramifications for regulatory agencies in developing obligatory reporting requirements for all listed firms to comply with the GRI framework.
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    Stakeholders’ Perception on Auditors’ Role and Its Impact on Audit Expectation Gap with Special Reference to Licensed Commercial Banks in Sri Lanka
    (Department of Finance, University of Kelaniya., 2022) Prawanth, S.; Perera, K. H.
    Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the stakeholder perception on auditors’ role and its impact on audit expectation gap. Design/Methodology/Approach: A sample of 457 shareholders, employees, customers, and auditors from different licensed commercial banks were selected for the study using the convenience sampling method. Information collected through questionnaires was analyzed using descriptive analysis and Mann Whitney U test. Findings: The study revealed an audit expectation gap between auditors and the shareholders; the auditors and customers; and auditors and employees in the areas of audit responsibility, the usefulness of audited financial statements, audit education, and providing non-assurance services. However, this gap was not significant with regard to audit reliability among auditors and employees. Practical Implication: The main reason behind this gap is the lack of proper education and understanding of the audit standards and audit practices. This gap can be reduced by giving adequate knowledge and awareness of audits to the stakeholders and the users of financial statements in general. Limitations: The study considered the stakeholders of licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka, whereas there are so many other financial institutions registered under the Central bank of Sri Lanka.
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    Banking Sector Development and Economic Growth in Sri Lanka: An Econometric Analysis
    (Department of Finance, University of Kelaniya., 2022) Wijesinghe, M. D. J. W.; Dulanjani, P.
    Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of the banking sector in elevating the economic growth of Sri Lanka by identifying the short-run and long-run relationship between banking sector development and economic growth in Sri Lanka. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study uses annual data for the period 1960 to 2019 from World Bank's Global Financial Development Database and World Development Indicators. Odedokun's model, which assumes the causation between financial development to economic growth, is employed using the bound test within the ARDL framework. Findings: The estimated long-term parameter of the banking industry development indicator was found to be positively affected economic growth by supporting supply-led growth model. The estimations of the Error Correction Model provide a broad picture of the short-term relationship, and the results are highly consistent with the results of the long-term model. Granger Causality test found that the banking sector development granger cause to the GDP indicating a unilateral relationship. Originality: This study differs from the existing studies, which focus on the neoclassical one-sector aggregate production model. Financial development is input along with other real sector variables to identify the short-run and long-run relationship with the help of a newly developed econometric approach.
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    Antecedents of Customer Adoption on Digital Banking with Special Reference to Non-Banking Financial Institutes in Sri Lanka
    (Department of Finance, University of Kelaniya., 2021) Madusanka, K. A. E.; Kumari, D. A. T.
    Purpose: The principal destinations of this examination are to contemplate and recognize the variables affecting the appropriation of digital banking among non-bank clients in Sri Lanka. Design: A survey was carried out by using structured self-administered questionnaire. As the study is mainly focused on exploring the antecedents of adopting to the digital banking of non-banking organizations of the country, the target population were all the customers who are using digital banking services provided by non-banking organizations in the Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, the sample was based on 300 customers of the digital banking services provided by main players of the industry. The data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical tools and PLS based SEM was adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings: The researcher has identified the factors; perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, customer trust, compatibility and information quality affect customer adoption on digital banking among non-bank clients. Originality: The study attempts to distinguish and examine the most significant and practical predecessors that can impact the advanced financial appropriation of non-monetary establishments considering the client's perspective. The study has chosen the TAM model for examining exact discoveries due to its nearby pertinence to the examination question. In view of the chosen model (TAM), however, numerous studies demonstrate that web ease of use, security, data quality, trust, administration quality, comfort, and protection are the main components in the reception of advanced banking by clients.
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    Audit Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Sri Lanka: Food & Beverage and Hotel Sectors
    (Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya., 2024) Randenigala, C.J.; Wijesinghe, M.R.P.
    The company's earnings are crucial for investors' decision-making since they provide emblems about value-creating ability. However, with the possibility of manipulating earnings, the whole purpose of financial reporting becomes valueless. External independent auditing can be identified as a control mechanism that minimises earnings management. This study examines the impact of audit quality on earnings management in the food and beverage sector and hotel companies in the Colombo Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2019. The real earnings management approach and total accruals are used to measure the earnings quality, while audit firm size, presence of the audit committee, frequency of the audit committee meetings and audit timeliness are the audit quality proxies. The study used regression analysis as the main analysis tool, and the findings reveal the existence of earnings management in the food and beverage and hotel sectors. Fascinatingly, audit quality does not significantly impact earnings management in the food and beverage sector, while it exists in the hotel sector. Moreover, companies' size and leverage significantly impact earnings management in both sectors. These findings suggest that effective regulation and monitoring are necessary to improve audit quality for both sectors, especially in the hotel sector companies in Sri Lanka. Hence, enhancing audit quality would minimise earnings management and improve earnings quality, which is instrumental to the decision-makers, especially investors and creditors. Henceforth, we suggest improving the audit quality in the food and beverage and hotel sectors and enhancing disclosure requirements such as research and development expenses, audit time, and non-audit services.
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    An Analysis of the Obstructive Factors that Impact the Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka
    (Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya., 2024) Amarasooriya, D. N. P.; Premarathna, S. P.; Rajadurei, S.
    The sector of small and medium enterprises is considered an encouraging platform for the economic empowerment of women through participating in economic development as entrepreneurs. The lower productivity exhibited by these SMEs in Sri Lanka was identified as a result of the high participation rate of female entrepreneurs in the informal economy. An unfavourable environment has been created obstructing the transition of women entrepreneurs towards the upper echelon of the business world through diverse impediments. Thus, the research focused on exploring the barriers that hinder the business growth of women entrepreneurs in small and medium-scale enterprises. Accordingly, the research was conducted as secondary research: a literature survey. In Sri Lanka, a minor percentage of female participation in small and medium enterprises occurs due to limited access to financial resources, lack of financial literacy, social prejudices, social and cultural restrictions, and limited opportunities for networking and communicating with external resources. Thus, closing the gender gap in education, giving access to capital through a concerted policy action and providing women entrepreneurs with opportunities to improve their financial literacy and educational level were highlighted as the major recommendations in the study to empower women entrepreneurs to climb the value chain. Women entrepreneurs in small and medium-scale enterprises need to be facilitated with greater access to the domestic, regional and international markets in order to enable them to expand their businesses with productivity and innovation. Thus, vital policy measures should be taken to mitigate the barriers involved in formalizing the business mechanisms while focusing on increasing the benefits that women entrepreneurs can gain through that standardizing process.
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    The Influence of Customer Perceived Risk on Online Purchasing Intention: with reference to Fast fashion Retail industry in Sri Lanka
    (Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya., 2023) Lakchan, U. G. C.; Samaraweera, G. C.
    Consumers' lifestyles and behavioral habits have altered substantially since the advent of digital marketing platforms, which has a big influence on consumption. More significantly, despite the fact that internet buying has many benefits, some consumers are a little more skeptical about it. According to the literature, there are several restrictions that affect consumers' purchasing intentions for online consumption of retail fashions and a nation like Sri Lanka is not particularly strong for online transactions or online shopping. This study is primarily based on online consumers’ behavioral shopping intentions. The independent variable, customer perceived risk is comprised with Financial Risk, Product Risk, Information Security Risk, Time Risk, Psychological Risk and delivery Risk. This study uses the positivistic research paradigm and deductive approach. Accordingly, purposive sampling technique was used by delivering the 400 questionnaires to internet users in Colombo district. Accordingly, data were analyzed using SPSS software after removing outliers. To evaluate the data, the study employed descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. According to the findings, Time risk was found to be not significant for purchasing online. Delivery Risk and Information security risk were the top-ranked determining variables among the major elements. Consequently, by reducing their perceived risk, this research assists in educating all dealers on how to draw clients to their online platform.
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    Impact of Quality of Work-life on Employee Productivity in Divisional Secretariats of The North-Western Province of Sri Lanka
    (Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya., 2022) Ekanayake, E. M. P. P.; Wanigasekara, W. A. D. K. J.
    Public sector organizations in Sri Lanka are running through public funds, and it is vital to use those funds in an impactive manner. To measure whether public organizations are running effectively, productivity is an important concept to study. Previous scholars have analyzed and identified an ideaof work-life quality related to employee productivity. The majority of early researchers found a relationship between quality of work-life and employee productivity, but they do not focus on measuringthe impact of quality of work-life on employee productivity. This study fills the said gap by investigating the effects of quality of work-life on employee productivity. Employee productivity was measured using ACHIEVE model, and quality of work-life was measured using the Walton model. In the Walton model, there are eight quality indicators of work-life working conditions, social integration, adequate and fair compensation, occupied space by work in life, use of capacities at work, social relevance, opportunities at work, and constitutionalism. The population of this study was all employees working in divisional secretariat offices in Northwestern province; thesample size was 375 and useda random sampling technique. This research was a basic type of explanatory research, and primary data was used. Data were collected from employees covering all sections of divisional secretariats in the northwestern province. The result of this study indicated that there is a positive relationship between quality of work-life and employee productivity. At the same time, quality of work-life has a significant impact on employee productivity. Of eight indicators of quality of work-life, only four have influenced employee productivity. They are social integration, constitutionalism, social relevance, and occupied space by work. Concern about providing formal and informal integration among employees, freedom of expression, fair treatment,, and focus on social responsibility in divisional secretariat offices are vital aspects of employee productivity.