www.ijird.com January, 2019 Vol 8 Issue 1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DOI No. : 10.24940/ijird/2019/v8/i1/JAN19024 Page 69 Information Disclosure and Transparency, Islamic Work Ethics and Performance of Islamic Financial Institutions in Nigeria 1. Introduction In financial institutions, corporate governance practices are considered not only important but also means for improving organizational performance. The ability to practice good governance is crucial to protect the interest of stakeholders. Over decades, studies on the area of corporate governance continue to attract interest of researchers due to its complex nature in addressing corporate issues that have existed since the time of Adam Smith (Smith, 1776). For instance, the outcome of the meeting of G7 (G7 are 7 large advance economies in the globe comprises of Unites States of America, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada and France) leaders on the Asian financial and Russian debt crises of 1998, the Organization of Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) and researchers began to give priority to corporate governance (Tosuni, 2013). According to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) corporate governance is defined as “procedures and processes of directing and controlling in an organization, being the most popular concept of corporate governance in Western countries (Mizushima, 2014). Therefore, financial institution serves as an apparatus where corporate governance practice becomes the driving force to its performance. Consequently, organizations need good corporate governance practices to perform successfully (Maati, 1999; Moradi, Velashani, & Omidfar, 2017; Thrikawala, Locke, & Reddy, 2013). Performance of financial institutions constitute economic and business activities that are responsible for achieving competitive advantage and contribute to economic growth. On the other hand, the performance of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) is viewed on work accomplished and ethical conduct according to Islamic principles providing the best path way to achieve objectives (Mohamad, 2013). Despite the importance of these corporate governance practices to IFIs, these practices have not attracted much research and interest. Particularly, the relationship among information disclosure and transparency, Islamic work ethics and performance of IFIs. Even the few studies that examined the relationship were presents incontinence findings. Therefore the objective of this study is to examine the moderating effect of Islamic work ethics on the relationship between information disclosure and transparency and the performance of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). . ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online) Sa’adatu Balarabe Adam Ph.D Student, Islamic Business School, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Dr. Al-Hasan Al-Aidaros Lecturer, Islamic Business School, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Dr. Suhaimi Bin Ishak Lecturer, School of accounting, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Abstract: Nevertheless of the importance and applicability of Islamic corporate governance practices in contemporary financial institutions, the literature indicates very few studies have attempted to investigate the relationship among information disclosure and transparency, work ethics and performance of financial institutions from the Islamic perspectives, mainly the moderating effect of Islamic work ethics on the relationship between information disclosure and transparency and the performance of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). The literature reveals that there is not only limited information on these practices of IFIs but also little research in this important area. By using structural questionnaires, the data for the study were collected from 254 IFIs in Nigeria. The finding of the study indicates Islamic Work Ethics moderates the relationship between information disclosure and transparency and performance of IFIs. The study contributes theoretically through the empirical testing of the moderating effect of Islamic work ethics on the relationship between information disclosure and transparency and performance of IFIs. At practical level, the study suggests that, in order to enhance performance through information disclosure and transparency, IFIs need to embrace Islamic work ethics. Therefore, this study suggests IFIs may need to operate according to Islamic values and principles for improved performance. Keywords: Information disclosure, transparency, Islamic work ethics, performance