Corporate social disclosure through social media: an exploratory study

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimaz Ramananda ◽  
Apriani Dorkas Rambu Atahau

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure by Indonesian firms on their social media and to compare it with the mandatory disclosure on their annual reports. Design/methodology/approach The authors use publicly listed Indonesian firms that are included in the SRI-KEHATI Index as the sample. Further, by using NVIVO software, the authors qualitatively analyze CSR activities disclosed on firms’ social media and annual reports with an interpretive approach. Findings The findings indicate that Indonesian firms still exhibit early stages of social media-based voluntary CSR disclosure. Further, issues on training, education and skill building dominate firms’ disclosure. Finally, Indonesian firms disclose less CSR information in their social media than in their annual reports, thus confirming the early stages of social media-based CSR disclosure. Research limitations/implications The small sample size limits the generalizability of the results. Practical implications This paper provides insights on which CSR issues are commonly disclosed in firms’ social media. This study may also inform regulators the extent of disclosures that could be regulated in social media. Originality/value Social media-based CSR disclosure in developing countries is relatively understudied. Thus, this paper empirically shows the topic and intensity of CSR disclosure in social media and the comparison between this type of CSR disclosure with CSR disclosure using other media.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pallab Kumar Biswas ◽  
Helen Roberts ◽  
Rosalind Heather Whiting

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of female director affiliations to governing families on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in the context of Bangladeshi firms. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a quantitative empirical research method grounded in Socioemotional Wealth (SEW) theory. Data was sourced from Bangladeshi publicly listed non-financial sector companies’ annual reports and stock exchange trading and publication reports and consists of 2,637 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2011. Pooled multivariate regression models are used to test the association between corporate social and environmental disclosure and female directors, and the family affiliation (or not) of those directors. Findings The findings provide strong evidence that female directors who are affiliated to the governing family, founders and other board members reduce CSR disclosure in family firms; unaffiliated female board directors enhance CSR disclosure, and this effect is significant in both family and non-family firms. Research limitations/implications Definitions of family firms and affiliated directors may lead to over-generalization in the results. Originality/value The study highlights variation in the nature of female board appointments in emerging market family-controlled firms. The findings bring attention to the role of affiliated female director appointments in family ownership structures and speak directly to family business owners, advisors and policy makers about the importance of unaffiliated female directors as catalysts of improved CSR disclosure in family and non-family firms.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Bason ◽  
Christos Anagnostopoulos

Purpose – Under growing public scrutiny of their behaviour, the vast majority of multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been undertaking significant investments through corporate social responsibility (CSR) in order to close legitimacy gaps. The purpose of this paper is to provide a descriptive account of the nature and scope of MNEs’ CSR programmes that have sport at their core. More specifically, the present study addresses the following questions. First, how do Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 firms utilise sport as part of their CSR agendas? Second, how do different industries have different approaches to CSR through sport? And third, can the types of CSR through sport be classified? Design/methodology/approach – Centred on legitimacy theory and exploratory in nature, the study employed a content analysis method, and examined three types of document from each of the FTSE100 firms, namely, annual reports, annual reviews and CSR reports over the ten-year period from 2003 to 2012. In total, 1,473 documents were content analysed, thereby offering a sound representation of CSR disclosure of the FTSE100. Findings – From the analysis, three main streams emerged: “Philanthropy”, “Sponsorships” and “Personnel engagement” with the first showing the smallest growth compared with the other main streams. Findings show the general rise in CSR through sport, thereby demonstrating that the corporate world has practically acknowledged that the sporting context is a powerful vehicle for the employment of CSR. Originality/value – Previous empirical studies have sought to investigate CSR through sport, yet they have generally suffered from sampling limitations which have, in turn, rendered the drawing of reliable conclusions problematic. Particularly, the lack of an explicit focus on longitudinality is a typical limitation, meaning that no conclusions can be made regarding the trend. The study outlined in this paper offers the most comprehensive longitudinal study of CSR through sport to date, and thus contributes to the increasing volume of literature that examines the application of CSR in relation to the sport sector.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fara Azmat ◽  
Ambika Zutshi

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the understanding of the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) by Sri Lankan immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia. It also seeks to investigate the importance the entrepreneurs place on CSR, their understanding of stakeholders, the types of CSR activities undertaken by them, and the issue of social capital.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with Sri Lankan entrepreneurs based in Victoria, Australia.FindingsThe interviewees were aware of the term CSR but, nevertheless, had different interpretations of its meaning. However, CSR was considered important and all the interviewees were, in some way, involved in CSR activities and also had a good understanding of the importance of their stakeholders. Findings also highlighted the significance attached to social capital by the entrepreneurs such as informal relationships and trustworthiness which build the intangible attributes of CSR. The present findings can be attributed to immigrant entrepreneurs behaving partly to adapt to the host country, by changing their beliefs, values, traditions and partly by being influenced by their home country culture as found in the extended part of this current study.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper addresses gaps in the fields of both CSR and immigrant entrepreneurship literature. However, the small sample size is a limitation and further research is required in order to generalize the findings.Originality/valueIt is important to have an understanding of the interpretation of social responsibility amongst immigrant entrepreneurs. Despite the steadily growing number of Sri Lankan immigrant entrepreneurs and their potential impact on the Victorian and Australian socio‐economic context, this area remains under‐researched. This paper addresses this gap in the literature and makes an attempt to provide insight into this area that can be used as a catalyst for future research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 680-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Guerrier ◽  
Christopher Bond

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a research from a study undertaken with Methodist circuit ministers in the UK and those that work closely with them. It considers in what way and to what extent ministers think of themselves as managers and to what extent and in what way they are expected to perform as managers by those they work with. Design/methodology/approach – The research that informs this paper was gathered through a qualitative study which involved in-depth semi-structured interviews with 22 participants both Methodist ministers and those who worked closely with them. Findings – The study shows that, whilst those who work with ministers typically do not problematize management and expect managers to be able to perform management tasks, the ministers themselves are ambiguous about or rejecting of the discourse of management. Research limitations/implications – The relatively small sample size limits generalizability. Practical implications – The study challenges trainers in this context and in other contexts where the “language” of management is contested or rejected to find a discourse of management which is acceptable. Originality/value – The study contributes to the small body of literature on management and the development of managers within religious organizations. It contributes to the literature on managerial identity and the importance of management language in becoming a manager by presenting an example where this language and identity is contested or rejected.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azlan Amran ◽  
Hasan Fauzi ◽  
Yadi Purwanto ◽  
Faizah Darus ◽  
Haslinda Yusoff ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to explore social responsibility reporting of full-fledged Islamic banks in two developing countries, namely, Indonesia and Malaysia. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important aspect of business society. As such, companies have shown a growing interest in reporting their social and environmental initiatives. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis of the annual reports for three full-fledged local Islamic banks in Indonesia and three Islamic banks in Malaysia was carried out for the period of 2007-2011. Findings Results of the study revealed that CSR disclosure of Islamic banks has generally grown both in Malaysia and Indonesia. More specifically, it was found that workplace and community dimensions were the most highly disclosed areas by the Islamic banks in both countries. Research limitations/implications The current study provides a cross-cultural perspective on social responsibility disclosure in Islamic banks across two countries. The study is limited by investigating a five-year time frame. Practical implications By discussing the findings according to the stages of growth model for CSR, the authors suggest that Islamic banks can enhance their responsiveness, and transform their role from being CSR reporters of social responsibility to responders. Originality/value While the tenets of CSR have a lot in common with Islamic moral law (Shariah), little is known about CSR disclosure of Islamic banks.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Belal Fayez Omar ◽  
Hani Alkayed

Purpose This study aims to examine the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Jordan for the time periods of 2005–2006 and 2014–2015, ultimately establishing whether there was a change in the extent and quality of disclosure practices before and after the new regulations for CSR. Furthermore, this study additionally seeks to determine if the regulations are a major factor in changing CSR disclosure practices, or whether there are other factors for such a change. Design/methodology/approach The annual reports of 55 manufacturing companies (11 sub-sectors) on the Amman Stock Exchange for the years 2005–2006 and 2014–2015 were selected, and a CSR checklist was measured via the construction an index covering 36 items in 4 themes: environmental; human resources; community; and products and others. The study measures the quantity of CSR via the number of sentences and the quality of CSR by the weighting approach (on a scale of 0–3); furthermore, the paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to establish whether there was a change in the extent and quality of CSR disclosure practices. Findings The results of the study revealed that there being a significant increase in the extent and quality of CSR for the period 2014–2015 compared to that of 2005–2006, the most optimal performance being in 2015, bragging an average of 61,41 total sentences per annual report and an average quality score of 1.423. Moreover, detailed analysis of CSR extent and quality by theme reveals that the highest percentage of CSR extent and quality was within the environmental theme, with an average score 28.6% of total sentences in 2014 (extent) and 1.743 in 2015 of total sentences (quality). Research limitations/implications The current study has some limitations, which have implications for future studies. First, this study examined the extent and quality of CSR for only two time frames: before and after regulation. However, a longitudinal study would have provided a wider scope of study. Second, the study focussed only on the industrial sector, thus limiting the results to only this area. Indeed, the exploration of the CSR extent and quality for other sectors (e.g. financial and services) would generalise the results further, allowing for the making of comparisons compare among different sectors. Moreover, the study at hand has focussed solely on annual reports, which could lead to subjectivity, thus reducing the reliability of results. Future studies should thus focus on other means of disclosure (e.g. websites; environmental reports). Practical implications The current mandatory requirements would suggest Jordanian regulators have begun specifying CSR disclosure requirements in an easier, more user-friendly and traceable format. Indeed, the increase in CSR extent and quality for the post-regulations period would increase the need to organise mandatory requirements in CSR. For managers, on the other hand, the study provides the CSR as a strategic tool for reflecting the actual environmental activities, comparing it with the society’s expectations. Moreover, when budgets are limited, managers prioritise CSR activities that yield a positive impact on financial performance by allocating the limited resources in a broad manner. Social implications The results additionally highlights the ways in which the Jordanian industrial companies increase their levels within the environmental theme in CSR for the post-regulations. It could be argued that a great number of companies in the past decade have started adopting environmentally friendly practices and strategies to protect the natural environment, such as greenhouses, extracting non-renewable resources and reducing amount of industrial waste. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is currently no existing study within Jordan exploring the change of CSR over time – specifically in terms of before and after the regulations. In addition, exploring the quality of CSR using a weighted approach (scale out of 3) is not conducted in Jordanian studies before.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-239
Author(s):  
Pappu Kumar Dey ◽  
Manas Roy ◽  
Mohsina Akter

PurposeThe study aims to examine the level and extent of forward-looking information (FLI) disclosure and identify the determinants driving the FLI disclosure (FLID) in the context of an emerging and developing economy.Design/methodology/approachThe sample includes annual reports of the top 30 listed companies in Bangladesh for the years 2013–2017. The content analysis approach is used to examine the practice of FLID and to determine the extent of FLID based on the index. Multiple linear regression analysis is performed to identify the determinants of FLID.FindingsThis research finds that board size, auditor's global affiliation, leverage and profitability have a substantial positive impact on FLID. By contrast, firm size and listing age have a significant negative association with FLID. Moreover, contrary to our expectation, female representation in the boardroom has an inverse effect on FLID. This study, however, does not suggest any significant impact of board independence.Research limitations/implicationsSmall sample size may limit the generalizability of the findings. Besides, the FLID index score may be affected by the subjective judgment while analyzing the content of the annual report.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper may assist the regulators and policymakers in incorporating this new reporting paradigm in regulations. Alternatively, the current research can serve as a basis to further understand the importance of FLID for the stakeholders.Originality/valueThis empirical study contributes to the current FLI literature in Bangladesh. A handful of studies have been done to examine the nature and level of FLID and find out the determinants of FLID in the developing countries. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study yet has been explored on FLID and its determinants by classifying them as qualitative and quantitative in Bangladesh.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Vourvachis ◽  
Thérèse Woodward ◽  
David G. Woodward ◽  
Dennis M Patten

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature investigating disclosure reactions to legitimacy threats by analyzing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure reactions to catastrophic accidents suffered by major airlines. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use content analysis to examine changes in annual report disclosure in response to four separate airline disasters. The authors adopt two classification schemes and two measurement approaches to explore these changes. Findings – The authors find that for three events the organizations appear to have responded with considerable increases in CSR disclosure that are consistent with attempts of legitimation. For one of the events examined, the authors find no disclosure response and suggest that this could be due to the company’s unwillingness to accept responsibility. Research limitations/implications – The study’s focus on major airlines that have suffered an accident with available annual reports in English meant that other companies had to be excluded from the analysis. Practical implications – The findings demonstrate the use of the annual report as a legitimation tool and further highlight the need for greater transparency and comparability across publications. Originality/value – The paper adds to the scarce literature examining corporate disclosure reactions following threats to their social legitimacy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Singh ◽  
Madhumita Chakraborty

Purpose This study aims to empirically examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and financial performance (FP) in Indian firms. Design/methodology/approach Data for CSRD is collected by conducting content analysis of CSRD in annual reports of the sampled firms. A multidimensional measure of CSRD is constructed based on the stakeholder theory, consisting of six stakeholder groups – employees, customers, investors, community, environment and others. The aggregate CSRD measure is created by combining disclosure of the six CSR dimensions. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the CSRD–FP linkage, controlling for the confounding effects of size, risk, age, industry, ownership and period. Findings The results of this study indicate that the aggregate CSRD measures, both for quality and quantity, have a positive association with the accounting measures of firms’ FP. However, the market measure of FP is observed to have a statistically insignificant association with aggregate quality and quantity of CSRD of Indian firms. Practical implications The results reveal that adopting transparent and extensive CSRD is relevant for the profitability of firms, and that government interventions are required to promote CSR programs, with a specific focus on the CSR dimensions that provide no apparent financial gains. Social implications This study recommends the adoption and reporting of CSR practices by Indian firms for their stakeholders. Originality/value This study contributes to the scarce literature on the CSRD–FP linkage in the context of emerging economies by using a more inclusive data set, creating a reliable measure of CSRD applicable to a large universe of firms and including relevant control variables that affect the CSRD–FP relationship.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Witek ◽  
Teresa Grettano

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a model of information literacy instruction that utilizes social media to teach metaliteracy as the foundation for information literacy today and articulate the effects of social media on students’ information-seeking behaviors and processes and complete the goals articulated in part one of this study (Witek and Grettano, 2012). Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted in conjunction with the course rhetoric and social media, co-designed and co-taught by the authors. Data sources consisted of student work and methodologies including textual and rhetorical analysis and observation. Findings are analyzed and presented through the lens of the Association of College and Research Libraries Standards (2000) and Mackey and Jacobson’s (2011) metaliteracy framework. Findings – The study identified four effects of social media use on students’ information literacy practices and behaviors: information now comes to users; information recall and attribution are now social; evaluation is now social; and information is now open. Data illustrate metaliteracy in practice and tie examples of this to the authors’ pedagogical decisions. Research limitations/implications – Article offers a model for teaching information literacy in the context of participatory information environments which can be adapted by other practitioners. Authors concede that the small sample size, limited by course enrollment, limits the generalizability of the study findings to student populations as a whole. Originality/value – Valuable to information literacy instructors and researchers because it offers the first formal application of concepts theorized in Mackey and Jacobson’s (2011) metaliteracy framework to information literacy instruction.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document