Effect of Social and Environmental Disclosure on the Performance of Listed Consumer Goods Producing Companies in Nigeria

Information is power; its presentation, processes and utilization can make or mare circumstances. One of the strategies of bridging information asymmetry is to disclose relevant information required by stakeholders in taking crucial decision. The impact of social and environmental disclosure on the performance of Nigeria consumer goods’ producing companies was examined in this paper, using multiple regression analysis while the sample constitute 16 out of 20 companies listed as consumer goods sector. The study found that social and environmental disclosure had significant effect on return on assets while firm size and age had no significant control in the effect of social and environmental disclosure on ROA. Also, social and environmental disclosure had insignificant effect on earnings per share (EPS) but firm size and age had significant control in the effect of social and environmental disclosure on EPS. The study concluded that social and environmental disclosure has significant impact on the performance of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. It was opined that managers should ensure that information about their social practices is well communicated in an understandable manner to the stakeholders, and thus the stakeholders would be able to comprehend, value and process it in taking meaningful decision about the firm, and that disclosure should be country-specific; every country should design the benchmark, rules and guidelines befitting their environment for such to be impactful.

The effect of ownership structure on social and environmental reporting in Nigeria: the moderating role of intellectual capital disclosure

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of ownership structure variables on social and environmental disclosure practice in Nigeria. The paper also investigates the moderating impact of intellectual capital disclosure on the relationship between ownership structure elements, social and environmental disclosure. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopted the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) disclosure framework to extract social and environmental disclosure information from corporate social and environmental reports of 80 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The study spanned from 2012–2017. Management ownership, foreign ownership, block ownership and dispersed ownership are considered as determinants of social and environmental disclosure. A multiple regression analysis was used to test the relationships specified in the study. Findings The result of the descriptive analysis has shown evidence of a low-level disclosure of social and environmental information in corporate reports (annual reports and corporate social and environmental reports) of companies. From the regression analysis, block ownership, foreign ownership and dispersed ownership are found to enhance the disclosure of social and environmental information in the corporate report of companies. However, management ownership was found to be insignificantly related to social and environmental disclosure. The result also revealed that intellectual capital disclosure has a significant positive effect on the relationship between management ownership, foreign ownership and dispersed ownership, social and environmental disclosure. However, intellectual capital disclosure does not moderate the relationship between block ownership, social and environmental disclosure. Originality/value This paper is the first to empirically examine the moderating effect of intellectual capital disclosure on ownership structure variables, social and environmental disclosure. The result of the study offer researchers a better understanding of the impact of ownership structure variables on social and environmental disclosure. The findings are useful to researchers, corporate managers, policymakers and regulatory bodies.

Social and environmental disclosure of the largest companies in Brazil’s agribusiness sector

Purpose Brazil’s agribusiness sector is an acknowledged and relevant player in international markets. Companies operating in this industry have been closely observed by society with increasingly critical judgment relating to production systems and the impact of these companies. In this context, this study aims to assess the voluntary disclosure of social and environmental information of Brazilian agribusiness companies and test the determinant factors. Design/methodology/approach The research hypotheses are based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and results from social and environmental disclosure studies. Confirmatory factor analysis was adopted to build the dependent variables, and the Tobit model was used for hypotheses testing. The sample includes the 150 largest agribusiness companies in Brazil. Findings The results show that the disclosure measures of agribusiness companies differ by segment and that internationalization, negative media exposure and pollution are critical factors in increased voluntary social and environmental disclosure. Practical implications Knowledge about the determinants and quality of voluntary disclosure is key in driving social responsibility policies. In addition, they are useful to executives for the preparation of social responsibility and environmental reports. Originality/value The results of this study contribute to the literature on voluntary social and environmental disclosure by providing information on an important but poorly studied sector, namely, agribusiness in Brazil.

Testing social and environmental disclosure-reputation relationship: a longitudinal two-way analysis

Purpose This paper aims to review sustainability reporting understood as any type of social and environmental disclosures (SED) in its relationship with corporate reputation within the most reputed companies in Spain according to MERCO business monitor ranking (2014-2016). Design/methodology/approach To shed light on the relationship reputation-SED, two alternative models were tested, thought the use of structural equation model (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS), with longitudinal data. Findings Both models supported the hypotheses although the model linking reputation to SED was slightly better, questioning the use of SED by reputation leader companies. Research limitations/implications The paper study the linkage, sign and causality, between reputation and SED by introducing two alternative models. SED and reputation are receiving considerable attention into the business scope, although their relationship is not agreed by previous literature. There are contradictory evidences that lead us to question the sense of this relation. Practical implications The contribution will be of interest to managers in terms of the value of this type of reporting from a strategic point of view. If reputation favours this type of disclosures, these will be issues to be taken into account to obtain a better competitive advantage through market differentiation. Social implications The results will be of interest for future studies and actions aimed at regulating the improvement of this type of reporting not only in the hands of academics and practitioners but also investors and regulators. Originality/value This study is an advance in the description of the SED-reputation relationship and contributes to this new line of research with new insights. Another contribution is the way to understand sustainability reporting. This paper analyses SED from the twofold point of view of the quantity of information and, the existing references about its quality and adding the lag effect between both variables.

Existence of the Audit Expectation Gap and Its Impact on Stakeholders’ Confidence: The Moderating Role of the Financial Reporting Council

This paper empirically emphasizes the existence of the audit expectation gap and its impact on stakeholders’ confidence, moderated by the active role of the financial reporting council. As a maiden attempt to portray the relationship, a higher-order model has been constituted and assessed with the pragmatic exploration, smearing the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The data contains 174 respondents as auditors, investors, investment and credit analysts, and regulatory agencies in Bangladesh. The study explores audit expectation gap from diverse aspects, such as auditors responsibility for fraud detection, meaning, and usefulness of the audit report, auditors providing the non-audit services, auditors’ responsibility for going concern reporting, and also an unmet expectation for the other assurance services, such as assurance on the other parts of the annual report beyond the financial statements, like management discussion and analysis and corporate social and environmental disclosure. The findings suggest that the audit expectation gap is negatively related to stakeholders’ confidence and the greater the audit expectation gap is, the lower stakeholders’ confidence is in the audit. Auditors maintaining perceived independence and improving the level of communication with users will diminish the audit expectation gap and induce stakeholders’ confidence simultaneously. Moreover, the active role of the financial reporting council acts as a moderator to ensure the auditors’ perceived independence. The result of the study motivates the policymakers to concentrate on the users’ audit-related expectations and also intends the importance of independent audit oversight.