Corporate Governance and Sustainability Practices in Islamic Financial Institutions: The Role of Country of Origin

This study examines the role of country of origin on the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability practices in Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). Different from conventional financial institutions, the IFIs has a group of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) to act as the governance decision maker and a gate keeper to the institutions in ensuring that IFIs will comply with the Shariah laws. Thus, the corporate governance dimension in this study includes the size of SSB in addition to the size of board members, the number of independent directors, and the aspects of environmental, social, and profit in the IFIs’ mission and/or vision. A total sample of 82 IFIs in Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) and Non-GCC countries were examined. The study found that the board size, directors’ independence, and the aspects of environmental, social and profit in the mission and/or vision have positive relationship for IFIs in GCC countries. However, the size of SSB is found to have insignificant relationship with the sustainability practices of IFIs. The country of origin is found to have a moderating role on the relationships between all of the corporate governance dimensions with sustainability practices except for the size of SSB and sustainability practices relationship. This implies that the size of SSB of IFIs in GCC countries does not have a great influence towards sustainability practices as compared to the size of SSB in non-GCC countries.