NGOs are expected by their social mission not only to assess but to report on sustainability issues in response to the growing public awareness of the sustainability agendas. Since NGOs are globally renowned as watchdogs for advancing socio-economic development and sustainable societies, research on their efforts in this regard will help develop recommendations on how they can be better positioned as the watchdog. The purpose of this article is to review and assess the understanding of sustainability (reporting) in NGO literature as well as the barriers and drivers. The study investigates various practices of sustainability and identifies the drivers and barriers in sustainability reporting (SR). The authors reviewed 61 articles published between 2010 and 2020 on sustainability and assessed the strengths and weaknesses in the understanding of sustainability in literature as well as the reporting phenomenon in NGOs. The misconceptions in the definition of SR tend to weaken its relevance and applicability, and the reporting process is often focused on demonstrating the legitimacy of NGOs rather than improving their performance. As such, it provides more evidence in support of the need for a more holistic and all-inclusive definition that will aid regulation and enforcement. We also found that, although it is often assumed all NGOs share similar objectives, it is not always the case as there are as diverse objectives as there are numbers of NGOs and their reporting pattern varies in accordance with this diversity. The review makes a case for a more comprehensive definition of SR suitable for NGOs using four elements as well as providing suggestions for where research in this area might focus to enhance the overall body of knowledge. The study contributes to theory and practice by introducing new elements guiding the definition of SR in NGOs which supports accountability and proper functioning of a circular economy and promotes sustainable development.

Recent global events and actions toward climate change have heightened the urgency of sustainability in all aspects of life. However, few studies exist on the incorporation of sustainability principles into the corporate governance practices of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to review the current state of the literature on the incorporation of sustainability principles in corporate governance practices of SMEs, validate the outcomes and set future research agenda. This research was conducted using a systematic literature review (SLR). Findings suggest female executives, board size, firm size, board diversity, board independence and ownership concentration are the dominant themes in sustainable corporate governance (SCG) of small businesses. Studies are predominately conducted in the European context with some studies in Asia and North America while studies in Africa and South America are limited. The study showed that corporate governance models of SMEs have excluded pertinent issues such as climate change, digitization, and racial equality. Although the study concentrated on limited but highly relevant literature, the results establish the basis for further studies and enhance debates on sustainable models for corporate governance practices of SMEs. Compared to existing studies, the outcomes of this study emphasise the need to prioritise sustainability-inspired research of SMEs and provide solutions to integrate sustainable practices in small businesses. The study offers a guiding framework for managers and policy makers to promote progressive and sustainable practices in managing SMEs.

Although there have been a number of publications discussing sustainability reporting (SR) in private and public sectors within the last decades, the number has been quite low when compared to works on non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This research explores this and finds that SR is a key driver for organisational learning and change in NGOs. A combination of descriptive statistics, grounded theory (GT) and inferential statistics was used to analyse the data. The findings show that SR and organisational learning and change share a reciprocal relationship that begins as the driver for learning and extends as change. This reciprocal relationship is repetitive and improves reporting process through enhanced sustainability performance in a mimetic approach. The research shows that SR fosters opportunities for cost and benefit evaluation, the institutionalization of sustainability, transfer of skill and innovation, attitudinal change towards sustainability, stakeholder engagement and ownership, as well as increasing the donor base. The findings further reinforce the contention that SR is influenced by organisational culture, donor behaviour and management decisions. The study also communicates the various lessons learnt from NGOs’ sustainability efforts that other NGOs, private and public sectors can benefit from.

This paper econometrically examines the long run and the short run dynamics of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the manufacturing sector growth in Nigeria between the period 1981 and 2015. Data used in this study were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin published in 2016. The econometric methodology adopted was the bound test and auto regressive distributive lag (ARDL) approach to estimate cointegrating relationship as well as short run and long run dynamics of the FDI and other explanatory variables on output growth in the manufacturing sector. Results of the long run behaviour and short run dynamics (error correction model) indicate that economic liberalization is significant in influencing changes in manufacturing output growth. However, FDI has no significant effect in both the short run and the long run episode. Therefore, it is recommended that policies aimed at encouraging increased participation of private domestic investors in collaboration with multinational corporations in the manufacturing sector be crafted.

The study aims at examining the impact of corporate governance on IFR among listed banks in Nigeria. The review of literatures reveal that IFR is one of the most efficient means of communication with investors and the practices of corporate governance by firms also influence their level of disclosures made through the internet. A quantitative research was carried out where the relationship between corporate governance variables and IFR was empirically examined. The corporate governance variables used for analyzing the impact of corporate governance on IFR include shareholders’ voting right, percentage of management ownership, percentage of block ownership and percentage of independent directors. The data on the top ten listed banks in Nigeria was collected from secondary sources from year 2010 to 2015. The findings suggest that the measures of corporate governance have significant influence on the level of IFR of banks in Nigeria, it also shows that shareholders’ voting right, percentage of independent directors and banks size have significant positive impact on the IFR of banks. The result of the regression analysis show that a negative relationship exists between managerial ownership and block ownership with IFR of Nigerian Banks. It is recommended that listed Nigerian banks should make frequent disclosures of financial information on their websites if they have high shareholder equity as source of fund in capital structure and also to attract investors and show transparency.