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U n i v e r s i t y of P e r a d e n i y a

The Institutional Repository of the University of Peradeniya is the University's digital gateway to scholarly knowledge and research excellence. Established as the next phase of the Digital Library initiative launched by the University Library in 2011, it preserves, showcases, and provides open access to the intellectual output of the University community.

Through a rich collection of research articles, conference proceedings, theses, dissertations, and other scholarly works, the repository enhances the visibility, accessibility, and long-term preservation of knowledge, extending the global reach and impact of the University of Peradeniya’s academic and research contributions.

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Recent Submissions

The impact of demographic factors on financial literacy: evidence from stock market retail investors in Sri Lanka
(University of Peradeniya, 2019) De Silva,Dhashma; Kularathne,Theekshana; Jayaweera,Sahan; Chathurangi,Wathsala
Financial literacy can be described as possessing some education and knowledge to manage personal finance, saving and investing, in an efficient manner. It includes the awareness of making proper decisions on personal finance. When people are limited with the knowledge of financial products and narrowed to a portfolio which is less risky and secure, it can have an indirect impact on sustainable economic growth. But when people have more knowledge, they can select an alternative such as mutual funds which is more secure and of low risk that ultimately have a positive impact on the growth of the economy. Past researches indicated that in the modern world without the ability to read and write (literacy) it is impossible to succeed. Same phenomenon is applied to financial system, as without knowing the basics of economics and finance (financial literacy) it is impossible to succeed (Lusardi, 2009). Considering financial literacy among Sri Lankans, Standard & Poor’s global financial literacy survey points out that, “Sri Lanka has a higher financial print literacy rate compared to South Asian countries. In contrast to that, Sri Lanka has a huge gap between print literacy and financial literacy”. This concludes that there is more space to provide awareness and promote the financial literacy among the Sri Lankan investors. Further, the Standard & Poor’s global financial literacy survey results show that the financial literacy rate in Sri Lanka is 35% as opposed to the average of 65% in more developed economies (Kulasena, 2017).
The impact of technology level and industry knowledge on the craftsmen’s involvement in traditional brassware industry in Kandy region
(University of Peradeniya, 2019) Gunawardhana,R.; Perera,M.A.P.G.S.
The Micro & Small scale industries represent more than 90% of the total number of enterprises operating in Sri Lanka (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2017) and they significantly contribute towards the economic growth of the country, generating 52% of the GDP and making up 60% of formal employment (Department of Census and Statistics , 2017). Out of this, the small scale handicraft businesses are traditional in nature and are depending on inherited entrepreneurial skills of craftsmen. The majority of these small scale businesses employ rudimentary production processes that have a low production volume and their sales are basically confined to local market. For example, only USD 2 Mn exports were recorded for brass-based handicraft products in 2016 (Export Development Board, 2017). There was an early study on the cultural resilience and survivability of rural livelihoods in Kandyan region over five major craft villages (Daskon, 2010) in which the majority of respondents were elderly people in the age between 55 to 80 with a vast experience in the industry over 35 years. Accordingly, the Kandyan craftsmen seems to be engaged in these industries merely to their own survival even under adverse economic conditions in the country resulting in increasing input costs, labor issues, and challenging market conditions. The research revealed that they do not plan either the succession of the industry or how they should make changes to their products to match market requirements in order to successfully compete with the substituted products in the market. According to National Craft Council (2018) the industry engagement of young craftsmen who are in the age category of 18-35 has been gradually decreased over the past 05 years. This situation has been a serious threat for the sustainability of the Kandyan handicraft sector in terms of lack of involvement by young craftsmen. The lack of direct involvement of the youngsters and shortfall of the successful young craftsmen in this category has directly resulted in very low-level contribution to the local industry.
How do consumerism and responsible management co-exist? a study with special reference to Sri Lankan hotel industry
(University of Peradeniya, 2019) Gamaethige,P.N.; Hitinayake,H.M.I.K.
In the current contemporary society, people tend to be more materialists by consuming excess of goods and services rather than consuming what exactly they need to satisfy their daily life. The key reason behind this is that people expect some extent of social status from their consumption. As Schor in an interview with Holt (2005) “Consumerism is about an attitude and an ideology, a particular way of relating to consumer goods in which they take on central importance in the construction of culture, identity and social life”. Consequently, today consumerism implies a squatter cycle of purchase, use and disposes which resulted for premature wastage. Due to the high competition, managers pushed to promote consumerism in different aspects and it results more unhealthy social and ethical issues. Therefore, it is vital for managers to study on how to form their role in a responsible way (Responsible Management) within this critical scenario. According to Laasch & Conawa (2015), “Responsible Management (RM) assumes responsibility for the triple bottom line (sustainability), stakeholder value (responsibility), and moral dilemmas (ethics)”. It proposes the mainstream management, which is always criticized as a problem maker by provoking social injustice and environmental depletion, to convert into a problem solver. In that sense, it is required to make the conventional management a responsible one, by considering all the managerial aspects such as goals, strategies, efficiency, effectiveness, etc. towards a common goal of achieving sustainability, stakeholder value and ultimately the moral excellence. A business that acquires all those values at the same time is referred to as a prime  Corresponding Author 16 business (Laasch. et al., 2015) and in this paper, it is attempted to unfold such prevailing and potential practices of one of the flourishing industries in Sri Lanka, namely the Hotel Industry. Since the concern for sustainability has emerged globally than ever before, green concept has taken a dominant place in the corporate world. Its trickledown effect has gone up to consumerism paving the way for concepts such as “green consumerism” which is on the other hand, has been criticized to be a fancy jargon to whitewash the ongoing unsustainable consumption and production promoted by capitalists. (Hamilton, 2009, & Kahn, 2010). When glancing at the Sri Lankan context, there are more than 2000 hotels and resorts registered under the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) which are operating all around the island, ranging from star grade international and local hotel brands to all other stop end boutique properties, proprietorships and stand-alone properties (SLTDA industry report 2018). Due to the rapid development in the tourism industry and changing lifestyles of domestic travellers towards spending weekends or vacations at hotels have created sound impact for the hotel industry to thrive their business. While this creates so much of economic value, the excess use and high wastage of resources ultimately resulted in major social and ethical implications such as energy consumption and waste generation (Gnanapala, 2016). As per the study conducted by IFC (2013) the solid waste generation by a typical hotel and categorized under food and non-recyclables (46.2 %), paper (25.3 %), cardboard (11.7 %), plastic (6.7 %), glass (5.6 %), and metal (4.5 %). Standing on this scenario, we are enthusiastic to scrutinize the contemporary dilemma of balancing the scale between consumerism and RM towards sustainability with respect to the Sri Lankan Hotel Industry.
Value relevance of integrated reporting: perception of stock market investors
(University of Peradeniya, 2019) Pathiraja,P.M.D.S.; Priyadarshanie,W.A.N.
As a newly emerged concept, Integrated Reporting (IR) has been diffused among the corporate world in various scales. However, IR is still an immature concept in Sri Lanka. For instance, adoption of integrated reporting is not yet compulsory for the companies listed in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and companies tend to adopt IR on voluntary basis. Voluntarily adoption implies that there are some kinds of value addition from the IR practices otherwise those entities may not adopt IR. Lee et al., (2015) have investigated the association between IR and firm valuation. This study has explored the association between cross-sectional variation in IR disclosures and firm valuation in the period after the implementation of IR within the listed firms in South Africa. As the conclusion, it suggests that the firm valuation is positively associated with IR disclosures. Martinez (2016) has investigated the effects of IR on the firm’s value by considering the voluntary adopters of the IIRC’s framework. The results indicated that IR is positively associated with market value of the entity. Thus, IR can be depicted as a value creation momentum as evident by the previous studies. Nevertheless, some practitioners viewed that IR is one of most disruptive innovations in corporate reporting (Simnett and Huggins, 2015; Deloitte, 2015). Even though many in depth case studies and researches relating to IR are available, the day-to-day reality of IR remains elusive (Gibassier et al., 2018). These kind of findings from previous researches bring light to create new research avenues in investigating the value relevance of IR in relation to the investors rather emphasizing the value relevance of IR that directly perceived by the entity. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the perceived value relevance of IR by stock market investors in Sri Lanka. Previously, many researchers focused to examine the basis of IR concept (Aceituno et al.,2013; Lai et al.,2016; Arrubla and Grima, 2016; Villiers et al., 2017; Rensburg and Botha, 2013; Serafeim, 2014), difference between sustainability reporting and IR while emphasizing the superiority of IR concept (Jensen and Berg, 2012; Soyka, 2013; Makiwane and Padia, 2013; Dragu and Tudor, 2013; Zyl, 2013; James, 2013; Aceituno et al., 2014), value relevance of IR concept and its association with firms characteristics (Kosovix and Patel, 2013; Yeo et al., 2014; Lee at al., 2015; Martinez, 2016). But, studies relevant to the value relevance of IR in the investor’s perspective is rare and this study attempts to fill that empirical gap.
Work life balance of bankers: a case study of bank of ceylon super grade branch Kandy, Sri Lanka
(University of Peradeniya, 2019) Dharmasena,Dilini; Samarakoon,Niluka
Good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict is called as work life balance (WLB) (Clark, 2000 cited in Perera & Opatha, 2014). It is an inter role phenomenon which reflects the orientation of different life roles of individuals (Greenhaus et al., 2003). Individuals need energy, time & commitment to play different life roles. Due to that role conflict may occur (Kirchmeyer, 2000 cited in Kalliath & Brough, 2008). Social changes such as a change in the family structure from extended to nuclear type; increased number of sandwich generation; changing the role of breadwinner of family from man to both man and woman; increased number of dual earner-carrier families has made WLB a challenge to individuals (Rajadhyaksh, 2012). Not only social changes, the changes in the work such as a higher concern on productivity, working beyond the normal working hours (08 hours), increased number of women employed and promoted as managers has also made WLB a challenge to individuals (Perera & Opatha, 2014). Work life imbalance effect on health and performance outcomes of individuals, families and organizations (Kalliath & Brough, 2008). Higher level of work life conflicts exhibit higher levels of job dissatisfaction and poor levels of commitments towards the organization (Beauregard & Henry, 2009). Banking sector, being a dynamic industry in Sri Lanka is in a strategy of reducing staff by increasing use of technology. Staff of Bank of Ceylon (BOC) of central province has been reduced continuously since 2013 at an average rate of 6% (BOC, 2017-2013). Being a service oriented industry; role of a banker is very significant for the quality of the output of the institution. They should be mentally, physically healthy to deliver a quality service. Over seven decades, BOC was able to stand in the number one position as the bankers to the nation. Factors affecting WLB of married female employees at the BOC head office has been studied (Fernando & Umma, 2016). In this context the paper is focused on below objectives