KKBS Journal of Business Administration and Accountancy

The Mediating Role of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosure in The Relationship Between Board Gender Diversity, Sustainability Committees and Firm Value: Empirical Evidence of the Listed Companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand

Buncha Chaisomkun — 2026-04-30

This research aims to investigate the mediating role of Greenhouse Gas emissions disclosure (GHD) in the relationship between board gender diversity (BGD), sustainability committee (SC), and firm value (FV) among the listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) during the period from 2019 to 2023. The sample consists of 580 firms-years, with secondary data collected from the Workspace database. Data was analyzed by using the panel data analysis approach. The results show that BGD has a positive and significant direct effect on FV, while SC exhibits a negative direct effect. Mediation analysis reveals that GHD partially mediates the relationship between BGD and FV and fully mediates the relationship between SC and FV. These findings suggest that BGD enhance FV in part by improving environmental transparency, while the value of SC depends on its ability to oversee sustainability to increase GHD levels. This study contributes to the corporate governance and sustainability literature by providing evidence from an emerging market and offers practical implications for policymakers, investors, and corporate boards aiming to strengthen sustainability governance and disclosure practices.

Entrepreneurial Individuality and Network Cooperation: Impacts on the Sustainable Performance of Homestay Businesses in Pak Chong, Thailand

Areeya Thongwilai — 2026-04-30

This study aims to analyze the influence of entrepreneurial individuality and cooperation with tourism management networks on the sustainable performance of homestay and small hotel businesses in Pak Chong District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, using three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. Quantitative research methodology was employed involving the purposive sampling of 166 participants, selected from a population of 282 (Department of Provincial Administration, 2024). The sample size was determined using the work of Yamane (1967). The research instrument demonstrated acceptable reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.648 to 0.874.

Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results from multiple regression analysis revealed that both entrepreneurial individuality and network cooperation positively and statistically significantly influenced all three dimensions of sustainability at the 0.01 significance level. For economic performance, the standardized coefficients were β = 0.189 and 0.404, respectively. For social performance, the standardized coefficients were β = 0.196 and 0.364, and β = 0.190 and 0.419 for environmental performance.

The findings contribute to theoretical development by integrating internal psychological traits with external network structures to explain the holistic mechanisms of sustainable performance. Policy implications highlight the need to promote entrepreneurial networks and enhance the capacity of small-scale entrepreneurs to ensure their long-term competitiveness and resilience.

Client Demand and Audit Quality: Evidence from A-Share Firms in China

Wang Yuanyuan — 2026-04-30

This study examines the relationship between client demand attributes and audit quality in the Chinese capital market. Drawing on 2,878 firm-year observations of A-share listed companies from 2021–2023, audit quality is proxied by discretionary accruals estimated using the Modified Jones Model. Client demand is operationalized through incentive factors (dividend policy and firm value) and competency factors (board independence and directors’ remuneration). The baseline results reveal that client-demand attributes exert only a limited influence on audit outcomes. The heterogeneity analysis further indicates that these attributes remain largely insignificant among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), whereas board independence plays a modest role in constraining earnings management in non-SOEs. Robustness tests using signed discretionary accruals confirm the stability of the findings and additionally suggest that dividend policy may mitigate managerial discretion when the direction of accruals is considered. This study contributes to the auditing literature by delineating the boundary conditions under which client demand affects audit quality and offers practical implications for regulators and investors in emerging markets.

Retail Store Evaluation under Multiple Criteria in Thailand: A TOPSIS-Based Framework with Robustness Testing

Punn Natthapong Sangsuwan — 2026-04-30

The retail sector faces increasing complexity in evaluating store performance due to evolving market dynamics, competitive saturation, and digital disruption. To address these challenges, this study proposes a multi-criteria evaluation framework based on the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), enhanced with robustness testing. The framework integrates five dimensions—market potential, accessibility and visibility, competitive intensity, customer experience, and financial performance—to provide a comprehensive assessment of retail stores in Thailand. This study aims to develop and validate a structured, data-driven approach that assists retail managers in prioritizing investments and allocating resources under uncertainty. Five retail stores were analyzed using expert-derived weights, and two robustness tests (±10% weight perturbation and Leave-One-Criterion-Out) confirmed the stability of the ranking. The results demonstrate that Store D consistently outperforms others, supported by strong accessibility, customer satisfaction, and financial indicators. The analysis also highlights clear differentiation between mid-tier and underperforming stores, offering managerial insights for resource allocation and strategic repositioning. The novelty of this research lies in extending MCDM applications to retail store evaluation with integrated robustness analysis in the Thai context. The findings contribute both theoretically, by enhancing methodological rigor, and practically, by providing an actionable decision-support tool for retail management.

Enhancing Trust and Engagement Among Thai E-Learning Consumers Through AI Personalization, Chatbots, and E-Service Quality

Natinee Thanajaro — 2026-04-30

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) personalization, chatbots, and e-service quality on customer experience, flow state, and learning outcomes, as well as how these factors influence customer trust and engagement among Thai e-learning users. Methodology: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed conceptual framework based on data collected from 498 Thai e-learning platform users through a quantitative survey. Findings: AI personalization and chatbots significantly improved customer experience and learning outcomes. AI personalization also increased flow state, whereas the chatbot–flow path was not supported. E-service quality showed no unique effect once AI personalization and chatbots were modeled. Learning outcomes were the only significant proximal predictor of customer trust and customer engagement. Overall, personalization and chatbots primarily influenced trust and customer engagement indirectly by enhancing learning outcomes. Applications of this study: The findings provide actionable insights for regulators, platform operators, and educational institutions. Prioritizing adaptive AI personalization and responsive chatbot support can strategically improve learning outcomes to ultimately foster greater trust and sustained engagement in Thailand’s e-learning ecosystem.

The Impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance on financial performance across different periods; evidence from firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand

Anuruck Booduangtip — 2026-04-30

This study investigates the timing of ESG performance’s effects on firm financial performance across different time periods by analyzing its impact in the same year (t), the one-year forward (t+1), and two-year forward (t+2) in companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) during 2020–2024, using 401-557 firm-year observations. The independent variable is ESG score, collected form Refinitiv database. The independent variables for financial performance consisted of return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and Tobin’s Q, all of which were collected from SETSMART database. Panel data regression, random and fixed-effects models were employed to test the hypotheses and were analyzed by STATA version 18. The result indicates that ESG performance has varying financial impacts depending on the timing. Especially, ESG performance has a positive effect on ROA in two-year forward (t+2), but has no significant relationship with ROA in the same year (t) and the one-year forward (t+1). For Tobin’s Q, ESG performance exhibits a significantly negative effect in the one-year forward (t+1) and two-year forward (t+2), but it shows no statistical relationship in the same year (t). Nevertheless, this study shows a statistically insignificant relationship between ESG performance and ROE measure in the same year (t), one-year forward (t+1), and two-year forward (t+2).