Research Publications

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Adoption of 3D printing technology in Sri Lanka's construction industry
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit, 2022-12-02) Cooray, NKV; Coomasaru, P
The construction industry does have a history of embracing new technologies more slowly than other sectors. 3D construction is a revolutionary technology that has recently identified as a possible technology with the potential to enhance the construction industry's effectiveness and efficiency. This research attempts to provide strategies for integrating this technology into the Sri Lankan construction industry. Using NVIVO, a literature review was carried out and recorded. First, a prototype questionnaire survey was conducted based on findings from the literature, followed by a regular questionnaire survey with 39 professionals with 5 to 20 years of experience to identify bottlenecks and enablers. In addition to the questionnaire, interviews were conducted with three experts with more than 30 years of professional experience to validate its outcomes. "Workforce unprepared to engage with 3D printing," "lack of standards or rules for 3D printing technology," and "high investment requirements" were the top three reported impediments. As enablers, design flexibility, cost advantages, and time savings were highlighted. As a final objective, three strategies were identified: "Conduct training for industry staff on how to interact with 3D printing," "facilitate the collaborative approach (partnering)," and "Construction industry to establish a new set of standards, guidelines, rules and regulations pertaining to adaptation of 3D printing into construction industry."
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An analysis of employee welfare practices in oil and gas construction projects at Qatar
Dissanayake, LC; Somachandra, V; Mudalige, DM
Oil and Gas construction industry has been identified as a very dangerous and risky construction industry sub-sector in the world compared to building and other infrastructure sectors. This field requires highly experienced employees. Those employees are fully open to dangerous situations and risky environment and it may course to lose their life/body parts, permanent disabilities or mental issues. Nowadays, many of Oil & Gas construction companies are using advanced technology to accelerate the works and protect their employee’s from risk. But still, there is risk and incidents are reported all over the world. In this research paper, welfare facilities in Oil & Gas construction industry in Qatar are considered and is aimed to find out awareness of the welfare facilities within that field. First of all, the researcher carried out a thorough literature review using past published books, magazines, journals and the internet. Then the online survey was designed using 30 numbers of questions to collect the required data. Around, 50 numbers of responders are responded to the questionnaire and most of them are supervisory level. 59% are fully aware about facilities and other 41% are partially awareness about the welfare facilities. According to this study, some of the welfare facilities have to be improved and developed around some key areas, like orientation programs, well experience staff for safety department and health and insurance benefits.
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Applicability of green certification system for domestic construction projects in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit, 2022-12-02) Perera, BLSH; Ranathunga, RAAS; Madhuwanthi, LPTP; Coomasaru, P
Consistently, researchers have noted that 20 to 30 percent of damage to the environment can be attributable to residential construction. There are a plethora of green certification systems available for implementation throughout the construction phase in Sri Lanka, and the number of adoptions has increased in recent years to lessen the impact on the environment. Even if there has been progress in the implementation of green certification systems, the procedure and associated expenses have been a major concern in the business community. Consequently, the objective of this study is to identify the best appropriate green certificate system for Sri Lankan residential construction projects. The literature review was conducted and analysed using "NVivo." Initially, a questionnaire was deployed to collect primary data, which was subsequently confirmed through interviews with subject matter experts. Sixty-nine professionals with 10 to 15 years of industry experience responded to the survey, and five specialists with more than 30 years of professional experience validated its results. Both the significance of adopting the green certification system and the hurdles that developed during its adoption were addressed in the study. It was recommended that state assistance, social awareness, and continuous education for professionals could facilitate in overcoming the obstacles. Finally, it was determined that the LEED system is the most appropriate green certification system for residential development because it generates environmentally and user-friendly sustainable products.
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Application of information systems in small and medium enterprises in sri lanka
Malwenna, KH
SMEs have become an important factor in the developing economies in the world, especially to economies like Sri Lanka. It contributes largely to the socioeconomic stability and poverty reduction process of the Sri Lankan economy in terms of employment generation while contributing to the GDP, equitable distribution of income, embarking on innovations, balancing regional development, lowering transaction cost and inspiring other economic activities. SMEs are the most dynamic businesses as they play a critical role in achieving socio-economic goals in developing countries with a low level of investment. Globally, information technology has become a key element in the economic development of many countries in the world. The objectives of the study were to explore the types of information technology/information systems existing in small and medium-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka, examine the advantages of the use of integrated systems by owner-managers of small and medium-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka, investigate the benefits of information systems to the small and medium-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka, and identify any problems encountered by small and medium-scale enterprises in exercising information systems. The response rate was 59.9%, which represented 91 manufacturing SMEs in the Colombo District of Sri Lanka. The study employed a questionnaire for owner-managers of SMEs. The stratified sampling technique was applied to obtain the sample size of the study and descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. The findings of the research revealed that e-mail is the most popular method of communication among SMEs in Sri Lanka and that SMEs are well aware about the benefits of information systems/information technologies. This study found that almost all SMEs are looking for government support for creating basic infrastructure, training and technical support.
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Business plan for improving soil using fly ash for construction activities
Prasad, DLS
Sri Lanka has invested in large-scale infrastructure developments to meet the social demand in the country. Soil is the major raw material of aforesaid infrastructure developments. Hence, the demand for suitable soil is high due to these project requirements. The unavailability of suitable soils is considered as a burning issue for the construction projects. Hence, improving unsuitable soils with fly ash is an innovative solution for the construction industry. This paper will introduce a business plan for improving the unsuitable soils using fly ash mixing plants. Hence, highquality soil product can be provided to target customers. This business plan gives the opportunity for the first mover to enter and acquire the entire market. The company can supply high quality soils to internal project usage and to retailers, by acting as a wholesaler. The business plan aims to add value to meet the demand for high quality soil products and strategically earn profits. This innovative soil product would be attracted by the stakeholders and company shall approach to meet the stakeholder’s requirements by taking the competitive advantages. The success of the business will give two additional benefits, i.e., easy construction process and completing the project within the time frame. Further, the study discusses the target area relevant to the business such as business description, strategic goals, management and organization, product and services, market and competition, marketing, sales and finance.
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Citation analysis of Masters in Information Technology theses available in Library, University of Moratuwa
(National Library and Documentation Services Board, 2022-09-08) Seneviratne, T.M.; Kodikara, R.C.
Library records indicate postgraduates reading for MSc. in Information Technology use less printed information resources. Library University of Moratuwa has subscribed reputed databases in such subject specialties. Though downloads from these databases are significantly increasing, their real usage has not been evaluated. By analyzing citations of theses and dissertations of MSc. in Information Technology, usage information resourcescan be identified.Population of the study comprises 250 Masters in Information Technology theses of Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa submitted during 15-year period from 2006-2020. Stratified random sampling was used to select sample of 152 theses according to the year of submission. Three thousand five hundred seventeen citations were found in 152 MSc. in Information Technology theses with 23 average citations per thesis. More than 50 % of the citations were within the period from year 1996 to 2020.Majority of citations are from Websites (38.24 %). Journals (23.20 %), books (16.12%) and conference proceedings (12.88 %) dominate thereafter. Majority of the information sources cited are available electronically (70.4 %). When authorship patters are considered, it was found 781 citations are by individual authors; 1313 publications by corporate authors and 1416 publications by multiple authors. Though affiliation could not be identified in 40.3 % citations, others belong to 50 countries and United States of America (14.3 %) in the highest position. Majority (23) of the studies have been carried out in the sub-field of Information Systems and ‘Software Engineering’ by Ian Sommerville ranked first (12.5 %) among 184 authors and co-authors of books. International Journal of Computer Applications received 5.63 % of citations. Five out of 10 highly ranked journals are available in subscribed databases of Library, University of Moratuwa. Out of 141 listed conferences, 49.64 % of the conference proceedings are available in IEEE Explore Digital Library; 32.6 % are available in ACM Digital Library; 2.1 % are available in both databases. It can be concluded that current Library collection is mostly utilized to satisfy research needs physically as well as electronically.
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Diversity in team composition, relationship conflict and team leader support on globally distributed virtual software development team performance
Wickramasinghe, V; Nandula, S
Purpose – This study aims to investigate whether diversity in team composition leads to relationship conflict, and, consequently, relationship conflict leads to team performance, and whether team leader support moderates the negative effects of relationship conflict on team performance. Design/methodology/approach – For the study, 216 team members working in globally distributed virtual software development projects responded. To examine the hypothesized relationships, structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was performed. Findings – It was found that diversity in team composition leads to relationship conflict, relationship conflict leads to team performance and team leader support moderates the latter relationship. Practical implications – The findings suggest the role of team leaders in reducing the harmful effect of relationship conflict on team performance. The findings imply the need of providing training to team leaders to create cohesive teams that deliver on project goals. Originality/value – Empirical studies on globally distributed virtual teams could provide new insights into challenges and issues associated with team composition, relationship conflict and team leader support in achieving higher levels of team performance.
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Effective methods in collaborative procurement system for energy sector projects in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit, 2022-12-02) Perera, PNR; Wijesinghe, T; Perera, BKC
All governments are bound to provide better infrastructure services for their citizens. Due to numerous financial difficulties governments move towards Collaborative procurement methods to secure infrastructure projects with participation of private sector. Sri Lanka is still lagging in implementing proper collaborative partnerships in infrastructure developments. Sri Lankan energy sector highly depends on hydro and expensive diesel power plants. Because of that, in dry season Sri Lanka is facing huge generation gap in meeting demand. To overcome these challenges Sri Lanka urgently needs to implement new power plants with more economical power sources. Therefore, the aim of the study is set to identify suitable collaborative procurement methods and develop the framework for processing those new projects. Barriers to implement collaborative energy sector projects were identified through literature review and expert interviews. Explored barriers were categorized into Social, Economic, Political and Regulatory discipline and key measures were proposed to overcome such. The suitable procurement routes for each energy project were brought to the new knowledge considering power generation capacity of power plants and prevailing regulations. Finally, the framework was developed to adopt proper implementation of identified procurement methods in Sri Lankan energy sector.
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Effectiveness of lean manufacturing layout of a firm within the apparel industry of sri lanka: a case study
Ratnayake, RMDK; Dinosha, V
The study is based on Sri Lankan apparel manufacturer ABC and its SBU of Best Clothing to identify the effectiveness of a lean layout. Apparel export industry is the most important and dynamic contributor to Sri Lanka’s economy. The share of the world market clothes and its share of exports of Sri Lanka are steadily losing since 2000. The imports to US from Sri Lanka have reduced by 1 % in 2015. The time has come for Sri Lanka to look beyond the ordinary clothes and move from low -cost strategy. Retailers are demanding more on increasing for short lead times, to meet the customer demand. They prefer in maintaining a low inventory, material just in time at a low cost as to reduce the tax and increasing interest rates. Effective facility layout design reduces manufacturing lead time, increases the quantity and efficiency of the plant. In today’s society no style longs for more than a week. Four fashion seasons namely spring, summer, fall, winter is blending out 52 "micro-seasons" per year. For a style changeover, an effective layout is set to reduce the loss in efficiency because it will minimize the changeover time by developing multi skilled employees and easy changeover of machines with the size of the layout. Therefore, the findings of this research show that there are two aspects that must be fulfilled for a lean layout to be effective. They are better organizational performance and contented employees. The organizational performance was measured using quality, speed, flexibility, dependability and cost. The employee contentment was measured using safety and ergonomics, income generated, relationship and support received from superiors, peers and supporting department, opportunity for skill development and career growth.
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“Ethical management practice” as a csr tool to ensure the corporate sustainability of construction industry: a conceptual review
Somachandra, V; Sylva, K
Construction industry is one of the main contributors to the national economy in most countries with the industry metabolism of businesses including constructors, clients, material producers, professional service suppliers and construction enterprises, amongst others. In a largely diversified industry like construction, inter-organizational relationships grounded through ethical practice and behavior is of utmost importance to establish sustainable relationships. Nevertheless, globally, the construction industry has been reported as an industry with poor ethical performance due to corrupt practices, health and safety catastrophes and triggering damage to the environment. Thus, if the construction industry is not guided by a proper ethical framework, the damage it could do to the economy, society and ecosystem is unrecoverable. This study attempts to identify the nature of ethical management practices in construction industry and its stakeholders, through extant literature. Also it reveals the prevailing ethical issues of the industry related to its stakeholders. Further, this study identifies the costs of these unethical management practices along with the emerging need and paybacks of properly developed ethical framework to ensure the sustainability of the industry. Further research will aim to develop an ethical management framework for Sri Lankan construction industry in the light of this review. Mix methodology will be utilized, to achieve this objective. Critical unethical management practices of Sri Lankan construction industry stakeholders will be identified thorough a questionnaire based on Relative Importance Index. Recommendations to mitigate the identified critical unethical management practices will be formed through an interview survey with industry experts using content analysis method. Based on those inputs, an ethical management framework for Sri Lankan construction industry will be developed.
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Evaluating outreach activities of the library, University of Moratuwa:perspectives of beneficiaries
(2015-09-29) Kodithuwakku, U; Seneviratne, TM
Promoting outreach activities by an academic library is something unique in Sri Lankan context. lt’s even special when such activities are consistently carried out by an academic library for a respectable period. Aiming to serve the underprivileged communities in the vicinity of University of Moratuwa, the Library launched a ”Child Development Programme” at Sumudu Preschool located in the University and ”Reading Camp” at Bodhiraja Vidyalaya - a primary school in Katubedda, Moratuwa. To review the outcome of these outreach activities, a survey was conducted with the teachers and parents of students in these institutions as the tnrpet population. Parents of first year students were omitted since these children did not participate in the programme. Data collection was done by semi structured questionnaire. Fifty four responses were received from parents and eight responses were received from teachers. Majority of the parents and all the teachers had positive attitude about the activities conducted by the Outreach Services Divlsion. They felt the need of continuing such programmes as they had a positive effect on the learning environment of their children. The survey showed that school children expressed their preference towards language learning backed by modern technology while preschoolers preferred aesthetic activities. According to the views of the teachers, these extracurricular activities were able to develop the knowledge and skills Of the students. By observing the behavior, the teachers found out that the students eagerly participated in these activities as were able to move away from the routine learning environment. The teachers and the parents of the pre-school have showed their enthusiasm towards the activities and feel that they contribute towards the progress of children. The results revealed the importance of continuing outreach activities targeting lower age groups of society by an academic library for their future endeavors.
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Evaluation of quality control measures and competency of the staff in non-accredited testing laboratories in sri lanka
Maduranga, M; Mudalige, DM
The purpose of this research was to identify the quality control measures adopted by non-accredited testing laboratories (excluding medical and calibration laboratories) in Sri Lanka and to examine the competency of the staff in conducting the tests in non-accredited laboratories using ISO 17025 as the guidance. A field study based on a structured questionnaire and personal interviews was carried out in ten (10) non-accredited laboratories in Sri Lanka. Eighteen test methods (18), twenty one (21) actual tests were observed and twenty four (24) employees were given a structured examination. The study analyzed non-accredited laboratories based on management and technical requirements of ISO 17025. Several specific clauses stipulated in ISO 17025 were considered for the assessment. Each clause selected was subdivided in to a set of objective requirements which was examined in each laboratory/test method/test. The laboratory was decided to have complied with minimum quality control procedures related to the clause if these requirements are met as per the acceptance criteria developed by the researcher. The study identified that less than 40% laboratories observed, used adequate quality control methods in conducting the tests in aspects related management system, equipment and reporting results. Less than 70% laboratories observed, used adequate quality control methods in conducting the tests in aspects related to internal audit, organizations and laboratory environment. Erroneous procedures and deficiencies in conducting the test were observed in many aspects. Ignorance of conditions laid down in the relevant test method/standard, inappropriate handling of testing equipment or standards by the staff, non-use of quality control samples when required and errors in documentation and issuing of the test report were the four major shortcomings observed in test methods. Three major deficiencies in laboratory quality control included calibration issues, not enough facilities to monitor the test environment and lack of documentation in quality procedures. The study also revealed the poor competency and knowledge of the laboratory staff in general quality principles. Although 56% of the employees examined had sufficient technical knowledge to carry out the given test, only 30% had satisfactory understanding of general quality management policies laid down in ISO 17025. The outcome of this research is that due to inadequate level of quality control procedures implemented in most of the non-accredited laboratories and due to the lack of knowledge of the staff in these testing laboratories in quality assurance principles, the ability of non-accredited laboratories to consistently deliver reliable and valid results is highly doubtful. Finally, this paper presents recommendations for an effective and reliable laboratory network in Sri Lanka.
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Factors affecting for growth of the social enterprises in Western Province, Sri Lanka
Gunawardena, LHTK; Mudalige, DM
Social entrepreneurship is the newest growing segment of entrepreneurship. The concept is to cater a social or environmental problem while making money. The concept is more valuable as social enterprises are economically selfsustainable. Unlike charitable organizations, social enterprises generate adequate money to support its service or production. Similarly, the first priority of social entrepreneurs is not maximizing economic profits as their central vision is to avoid or mitigate an effect of a social or environmental issue. In Sri Lanka, engaging to overcome a common issue without an invitation as a team or giving and dedicating for others benefit are not new. However, the ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ wording is new to the island. Consequently, there is limited research work that has taken place in Sri Lanka on ‘Social Entrepreneurship’.
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Fiction reading: readers' choices of fiction books in the library, University of Moratuwa
(2014-07-01) Seneviratne, TM
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Health Information Seeking and Information Encountering of Female Undergraduates: a Pilot Study at University of Moratuwa
(2015-09-29) Seneviratne, TM; Perera, S; Seneviratne, SA
Health literacy can be explained as one’s ability to obtain, process and understand health information and services to enable sound health decision making. A healthy population is an asset to any country and directly related to the economic growth and development. Health literacy is fundamentally important to maintain a population’s health. National survey on emerging issues among adolescents recognized health literacy as a life skill since adolescence has recently gained recognition as a critical phase of life. On the other hand health literacy as a life skill will have a greater impact on adult health. Undergraduates just passed adolescence will be future leaders of the society and female undergraduates will be future mothers in the community. This study was conducted as a part of a research on prevention and control of breast cancer and explored the health information seeking and information encountering of female undergraduates of University of Moratuwa. Adopting the survey method, a semi- structured questionnaire was developed as the research instrument and consisted of 4 parts namely socio demographic data, knowledge on breast cancer, knowledge on screening of breast cancer and information seeking behaviour, Questionnaire was randomly distributed among 245 female undergraduates of three faculties of University of Moratuwa who were willing to participate for the survey. Of 245 respondents, 95 undergraduates belonged to Faculty of Architecture ; 71 undergraduates belonged to Faculty of Engineering and 79 undergraduates belonged to Faculty of Information Technology. Though health literacy is not a novel concept majority of the respondents were not aware about it. Few participants were able to explain the concept of health literacy. Majority of the respondents understand health education is vital in the university as undergraduates and prefer the availability of health information in the university library. Most of the female undergraduates prefer to maintain a personal collocation on health related aspects. However, only 19 students have used university library to find out health-related information. Participants also believed that University library does not have items on health aspects as well as available collection is out-dated. of 245 respondents, 191 undergraduates believed that the Internet provides latest information on health aspects. Social media such as Facebook has been rated as best option to educate about health literacy. However, 98 students frequently get information from Medical Officers about health related aspects. On the other hand, health information seeking through television programmes is also common. Most of the participants also encounter health related information through television programmes, magazines and newspapers dedicated for women. Majority of the female undergraduates participated did not concern about their health at the younger age since there are many burning issues prevailing currently for undergraduates. In conclusion, female undergraduates accepted the fact that health education is vital in the university setup as undergraduates are future leaders. Regular awareness programmes to educate undergraduate about health aspects is recommended along with developing library collection related to health literacy.
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Human resource practices and turnover intention: a case study on internationalized tech-based small and medium gem and jewellery manufacturers in Kurunegala district of Sri Lanka
Fernando, WMSN; Dasanayaka, SWSB; Mudalige, D
Internationalized Tech-based Small and Medium Enterprises (TSMEs) are one of the major elements in the present globalized world scenario. In contemporary circumstances, Human Resources (HR) have become the most noteworthy asset for internationalized TSMEs as the ‘intellectual capacity’ is directly associated with the achievement of TSME’s objectives through efficient and effective management of technology, resources and people while balancing the cost structure of the internationalized TSMEs at an optimal level. It is essential to perfectly match the internationalized TSME’s small number of people with their specific job roles within the internationalized TSMEs so as to face the dynamic globalized business context whereas the turnovers directly affect the TSME’s sustainable growth and development. There is a dearth of research regarding the effects of human resource practices on turnover intention in Tech-based Small and Medium Gem and Jewellery Enterprises in Sri Lanka. A sample of 176 employees was selected using Multi-stage random sampling from the Gem and Jewellery TSMEs which are located in the Kurunegala District. Both descriptive and inferential techniques were used to analyze data. As per the findings, it was observed that the employees are satisfied with the existing human resources practices in the Gem and Jewellery TSMEs in the Kurunegala district. In accordance with the correlation coefficient analysis, there is a strong negative correlation between HR practices and turnover intention. In addition, all six human resource practices (Job Information, Job Analysis, Career Development, Work-Family Balance, Supervisor Support and Compensation) identified within this study context, affected the employee turnover intention within an internationalized TSME in a negative manner.
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Impact of corporate governance on financial innovation: a conceptual framework model
Mahesh, DD; Sinnathamby, V; Kuruppu, GN; Dasanayaka, SWSB; Samarasinghe, GD
This paper presents a conceptual framework that could be applied to the relevant empirical research studies on the relative importance of the concept of corporate governance in order to strengthen the innovative practices in financial services industry. The main data and information for the development of this model is obtained from of the available literature, web sites and supplemented with interviews conducted with key relevant stake holders in financial sector. Thus, this research framework could be utilized to examine the corporate governance and innovation related issues in the other industrial sectors though it has been originally designed for the financial services industry.
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Impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and intention to switch in commercial banking sector in Sri Lanka
Jayasekara, BEA
To obtain the competitive advantage in the dynamic financial industry, banks always concentrate on fulfilling their customers’ needs and demands. The current study attempts to find the impact of customer satisfaction on loyalty and intention to switch in the commercial banking sector in Sri Lanka. The population consists of customers of banks in Sri Lanka and the target population consists of customers of banks in the Colombo district. The sample is derived from the simple random sampling method and a questionnaire is used to collect primary data from 150 commercial bank customers. The dependent variable is intention to switch, the independent variable is customer satisfaction and the mediator variable is customer loyalty. The study reveals that customer satisfaction moderately affects customer loyalty and there is a negative relationship between customer satisfaction and switching intention. However, there is no impact of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty on switching intention. Also, other than customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, there are several other factors affecting the intention to switch. As per the findings of the study, there is no statistically significant association of age, gender, occupation, highest education level and marital status with customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and intention to switch. Monthly income level of the respondents also does not have a significant association with customer loyalty and intention to switch but there is a statistically significant association between income level and customer satisfaction. Finally, the study identified that customers are switching from the existing bank due to an external reason such as the existing bank not complying with some special request or to obtain some exclusive benefits at another bank.
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Impact of Internet on library and information services: experience of an academic library in a technical university
Seneviratne, Thushari M.
Internet technology has been used to enhance teaching and learning in higher education. Computer literate population is ever increasing and the majority of the students have basic computer skills when they arrive at the university and able to use online resources and interact via social media. In such circumstances, Internet can be heavily used as an information resource, retrieval tool, communication tool than the physical library. As such, academic libraries have also taken advantage of the trend and made them visible online.Though, Internet has not replaced the physical library but has made an impact. Therefore, objective of this paper is to highlight some changes Internet has brought to an academic library in a technical university. Trend analysis of library reader services data within year 2011 to 2016 along with the observation of usage of electronic information sources and services was done. According to the data, library registration of undergraduates and diploma students are parallel to university admissions but postgraduates registrations have declined by 22% and academic staff registrations by 50%. Registration renewals have increased in undergraduates (170%). Issuing of library materials has recorded a decline by 27% in undergraduates; 19% in diploma students; 36% in postgraduates and 42% in academics. Reservations of library materials has also reduced (70-80%). However, online renewal of library materials has increased by 110 % - 150% in four user categories. Usage of online databases has been greatly increased and 27275 average total article downloads have been recorded for online databases subscribed by Consortium of Academic Libraries and 68545 average total article downloads by self-subscribed databases over the period 2014-2016. Since its inception, digital library has archived nearly 4000 documents and over 6000 user logins and 500, 000 searches have been recorded. In conclusion, all categories of library users have a declining trend in using physical library materials and services and have positive developments towards electronic information sources and services. Hence, it is recommended to design novel user education programmes to teach media and information literacy for undergraduates and diploma students. It is essential to include subject specific library skills programmes postgraduate students and new academic staff members.
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Impact of selected board characteristics on firm performances of listed manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka
Dissanayake, ADM; Dissanayake, TDSH
This study designed to investigate the association between selected board characteristics and firm performances of organisations registered under the manufacturing sector of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Accordingly, 28 companies have been used as sample over four years (2014 -2017) with the main objectives to measure the level of corporate governance and board characteristics of selected companies and to examine their association. ROA and ROE used as the dependent variables of the study and board size, board independence, board meetings, board diversity, CEO duality and existence of nomination committee as board characteristics used as independent variables while controlling for three variables (i.e., firm size, age and leverage). Results obtained via correlation analysis, OLS regression and panel regression showcase that only board diversity and existence of nomination committee possess the significant impact on firm performances. Leverage is the only control variable which become negatively significant in explaining the variation of firm performances. The study suggests vital managerial implications to policy makers in reforming and strengthening corporate governance guidelines to achieve higher firm performance.