Determinants of ERM implementation: the case of Tunisian companies

Purpose - Enterprise risk management (ERM) has become an important subject of increasing interest among companies throughout the world. It is gaining global attention among risk management professionals and academics. However, little is known about the extent of ERM implementation in the Tunisian context. More importantly, there are limited studies in literature that examine the determinants of this implementation. The purpose of this study is threefold, to propose an index to measure the level of ERM implementation, to examine the level of ERM implementation in Tunisian companies and to propose a conceptual framework for the determinants of this implementation. From the review of literature, several factors are found to be determinants of ERM implementation. Such factors are the presence of a Chief Risk Officer, the appointment of an internal auditor, the type of industry and the firm size. Design/methodology/approach - To further understand the relation between ERM implementation and its determinants, a questionnaire survey was conducted in 2016 and administrated to 80 companies. Respondents were CRO and more often internal auditors or financial directors. Other data were collected from annual reports and notes to the financial statements. Along with this, the ordinal regression was applied to test the dependence between ERM implementation and its determinants. Findings - Based on the data gathered, Tunisian companies have shown an increasing interest in risk management in the post-revolution context; however, an integrated approach of ERM implementation is still at an early stage. Descriptive statistics suggest that ERM is essentially developed in financial institutions, especially in banks and some large companies operating in non- financial industries. With regard to the multivariate regression results, the level of ERM implementation is positively related to the presence of a Chief Risk Officer, internal auditor, the type of industry and the firm size. Originality/value - This study attempts to contribute to the risk management literature in two ways. Conceptually, this study proposes an ERM index to assess the level of ERM implementation. Empirically, it provides some empirical evidence that highlights factors which determine the level of ERM implementation. Therefore, this study will extend the scope of literature by providing novel empirical evidence by exploring the Tunisian context.