12
Afro-Asian J. Finance and Accounting, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2016
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
Evidence from Yemen
Nahg Abdul Majid Alawi*
Faculty of Economics,
Aden University,
Yemen
Email: nahgalawi@hotmail.com
*Corresponding author
Azhar Abdul Rahman
Accounting Department,
College of Business,
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM),
00601 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia
Email: azhar258@uum.edu.my
Azlan Amran and Mehran Nejati
Graduate School of Business,
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM),
Penang, Malaysia
Email: azlan_amran@usm.my
Email: mehran@usm.my
Abstract: While earlier studies have shown the role of family affiliation on
increased social responsibility of firms, there is a dearth of literature on how
family group affiliation moderates the link between company’s characteristics
and social responsibility disclosure. This study aimed to investigate this
moderating effect through performing a moderated multiple regression (MMR)
analysis on empirical data gathered from 73 most active shareholding
companies in Yemen. Findings from the study indicated that family group
affiliation has a significant moderating effect on the relationships between
company’s characteristics and corporate social responsibility disclosure; where
the relationship was found stronger for family group affiliated companies as
compared to the non-family group affiliated ones. The study has bridged the
literature gaps by offering empirical evidence and new insights on the
significant moderating effects of family group affiliation in the relationships
between company’s characteristics and corporate social responsibility
disclosure using the Yemeni samples.
Keywords: family group affiliation; corporate social responsibility disclosure;
company characteristics; corporate social responsibility; CSR; Yemen.
Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
13
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Alawi, N.A.M.,
Rahman, A.A., Amran, A. and Nejati, M. (2016) ‘Does family group affiliation
matter in CSR reporting? Evidence from Yemen’, Afro-Asian J. Finance and
Accounting, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.12–30.
Biographical notes: Nahg Abdul Majid Alawi is an Assistant Professor of
Accounting at Faculty of Economics, Aden University, Yemen. He received his
PhD in Accounting from University Utara Malaysia, Malaysia, MSc in Finance
and Banking from Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Egypt
and BAcc from Tishreen University, Syria. His research interests are financial
disclosure, corporate social responsibility and accounting education.
Azhar Abdul Raman is an Associate Professor in the Accounting Department,
College of Business, University Utara Malaysia Campus, University Utara
Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia.
Azlan Amran is currently an Associate Professor at Graduate School of
Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia. His research interests are related to
corporate social reporting, corporate social responsibility and sustainability
issues.
Mehran Nejati is a Senior Lecturer at the Graduate School of Business,
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). He holds a PhD in Management and is a
certified Six Sigma Green Belt by American Society for Quality (ASQ). He is
also the author of numerous papers in international peer-reviewed journals and
serves as editorial board member of several journals. He became a Certified
Sustainability Reporting Specialist (CSRS) in 2012.
1
Introduction
The majority of the earlier studies on corporate governance and corporate social
responsibility (CSR) disclosure have been conducted on developed (e.g., Aguilera et al.,
2006; Branco and Delgado, 2011; Jo and Harjoto, 2012; Michelon and Parbonetti, 2012)
or developing countries (e.g., Ghazali, 2007; Kamal and Deegan, 2013), and
under-developed countries appear to be largely ignored in the literature. Contrary to this
notion, CSR might be a key remedy to the least developed countries to enhance the
society well-being and keep up with other developing countries, as it joins the regulatory
endeavours to make corporations more attuned to public, environmental and social needs,
through pursuing corporate governance as a framework for boards and managers in
treating employees, consumers and communities (McBarnet et al., 2007; Rahim and
Alam, 2014; Vogel, 2005). Additionally, most scholars have examined the convergence
of corporate governance and CSR only from the perspective of strong economies (Belal,
2001); however, the link between corporate governance and CSR needs to be examined
in weak economies (Rahim and Alam, 2014). Thus, examining the key determinants of
corporate social responsibility from under-developed contexts can enhance the corporate
governance literature and provide helpful implications to both researchers and
administrators.
14
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, which is surrounded by
some of the richest countries on the globe, is Yemen. As society’s needs in Yemen have
exceeded the capabilities of the governments, the Yemeni government has called upon
the private sectors to participate in the welfare and development of the country in
fulfilling their social responsibilities by financially contributing to social programs or
reducing the harmful effects of industrialisation to the environment and society at large.
Yemeni shareholding companies are mostly controlled by family groups and this is
common in countries with poorly developed financial markets (Khanna and Palepu,
1997). But what makes a family group unique is its ability to influence the ownership, the
governance, the management and the degree of success of these companies, as well as
their objectives, strategies and structure, along with how those are formulated, designed
and implemented (Chua et al., 1999; Neubauer and Lank, 1998).
There is noticeable evidence to suggest that some Yemeni companies are developing
and implementing social responsibility policies. For example, the Hayel Saeed Anam
Group has established the Hayel Saeed Anam and Associates Welfare Corporation and
Al-Saeed Foundation for Science and Culture as institutional entities to organise social
responsibility action of the group (Hayel, 2008). However, unfortunately companies have
singularly failed to embrace any but the traditional model of accounting and “most
companies in Yemen are still not aware of the broad view of social responsibility,
believing that CSR is no more than building mosques, donations to charities or seasonal
work during Ramadan; and these activities do not require any disclosure” (Althawra
Daily, 2008). Therefore, this study is important in providing a systematic empirical
examination of the moderating effect of family group affiliation in the relationship
between company’s characteristics and corporate social responsibility disclosure.
This study contributes towards theory development by testing legitimacy theory in the
context of CSR disclosure by Yemeni companies and the influence of family group on
the relationship from company size, industry type, profitability, and foreign ownership to
CSR disclosure. Moreover, while the majority of the earlier studies concentrate on
developed or emerging economies, this study contributes to the existing literature on CSR
disclosure from a different perspective, by focusing on one of the world’s least developed
countries, namely Yemen.
The remainder of the paper is organised as follows: first, we present our theoretical
framework for CSR disclosure using legitimacy theory and upper echelons theory.
Second, we discuss the hypotheses development, followed by the research design and the
method of content analysis. Third, discussions of the study findings are presented.
Finally, summary and conclusions are drawn.
2
Theoretical framework and hypotheses development
Legitimacy functions as an organisational resource (Hearit, 1995) and failing to fulfil
society’s expectations can result in a legitimacy gap (Wilmshurst and Frost, 2000), which
may affect the ability of a company to continue operating (Deegan, 2009). Organisational
legitimacy reduces possible product boycotts and other disruptive actions (Elsbach, 1994)
and provides the top management with a degree of freedom about how and where the
business is conducted. Thus, companies try to gain legitimacy by disclosing social and
environmental verifiable data and information (Cho and Patten, 2007; Deegan, 2007;
Bakar et al., 2011; Khan et al., 2013).
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
15
Legitimacy theory is compatible with ethical stakeholder theory as it considers all
stakeholder groups have the right to be provided with information (Roberts, 1992;
Brammer and Pavelin 2006; Isack and Tan, 2008; Belhaj and Damak-Ayadi, 2011).
Consistent with the expectation of legitimacy theory, it is conjectured that businesses will
provide social information to the public, regarding their community involvement, human
resources, physical resources, environment contribution and product and service
contribution, with the aim of legitimising their activities and positively influencing the
perceptions of public and stakeholders about their organisation. Thus, firms use social
disclosure to guard their reputation and identity (Hooghiemstra, 2000; Menassa, 2010;
Bakar et al., 2011; Muttakin and Khan, 2014), and achieve legitimacy. Given the
wide-spread adoption of legitimacy theory in explaining corporate environmental
reporting, this study adopts legitimacy theory for its theoretical framework.
In a country like Yemen where Islam is the main religion in the country, religious
practices have become a norm and integrated into the people’s way of life. This scenario
forms a unique perception and expectation from the community point of view. The
practice of giving, protecting the environment, fair treatment towards the employees, and
honesty are important components in the Muslims’ way of life. Thus, it is also expected
that companies in this context perform in ways promoted in the religion, as any violation
to the society’s expectations may cause serious damage to the company’s reputation.
The current study uses four important characteristics of firms to examine their
level of CSR disclosure. These characteristics include company size, industry type,
profitability and foreign ownership. Size has been frequently used in explaining the
degree to which organisations disclose information (e.g., Adrem, 1999; Hossain and
Reaz, 2007; Jaggi and Low, 2000; Branco and Rodrigues, 2008; Reverte, 2009; Li and
Zhang, 2010; Kansal et al., 2014) and majority of earlier studies shown a positive link
between organisational size and the extent of social disclosures. This could be attributed
to the fact that larger companies are more closely scrutinised by the mass media than the
smaller organisations (Stanny and Ely, 2008). Besides, nature of industry has an effect on
CSR disclosure and industries with higher possibilities to public controversy will have
keener attitude in their CSR practices and disclosure (Porter and Krammer, 2002;
Reverte, 2009; Muttakin and Khan, 2014). Hence, high profile industries, defined as
“those with consumer visibility and a high level of political risk” [Roberts, (1992), p.605]
are expected to have a greater extent of social disclosure.
Moreover, profitability is conjectured to positively influence the extent of CSR
disclosure, as organisations with a sound finances have the necessary financial means for
this purpose (Hackston and Milne, 1996; Pirsch et al., 2007; Menassa, 2010; Belhaj and
Damak-Ayadi, 2011). Finally, as argued by Won et al. (2011), foreign investors are likely
to be distinct from domestic investors in their preferences, time horizons, and the extent
of the information asymmetry problem. Additionally, Khan et al. (2013) also argued that
foreign investors are likely to have different values and knowledge because of their
foreign market exposure. Besides, Chapple and Moon (2005) noted that globalisation
enhances firms’ CSR engagement in Asian countries. Thus, we conjecture that higher
foreign ownership in a company results in a higher degree of CSR disclosure.
In line with the legitimacy theory, family firms view their ownership more of an asset
to pass on to their descendants, than a consumable wealth during their lifetimes
(Anderson et al., 2003). Therefore, it is suggested that they foster some kinds of socially
responsible behaviours (Block, 2010; Deniz and Suarez, 2005; Stavrou et al., 2007;
16
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
Uhlaner et al., 2004) that build good reputation (Dyer and Whetten, 2006; Wiklund,
2006). Through the analysis of the family business group CIM in Spain, Martos and
Torraleja (2007) analysed the aspects of the family business organisational culture that
can generate higher levels of social responsibility. Their study found that family
businesses are significantly aware of the local culture and show greater concern for social
responsibility activities. Hence, they proposed a four-circle model of family business,
which integrates the family, ownership, business system, and community.
Moreover, family owners are often more actively involved in the management of the
firm by serving as executives and/or directors. Thus, family CEOs often have deep
knowledge of the firm and its business activities (Ward, 2004). They are able implement
family’s value, priorities and objectives (Le Breton-Miller and Miller, 2009; Wiklund,
2006).
Previous literature confirms the positive relationship between family companies and
CSR and between business groups and CSR. For instance, Huang et al., (2009) showed
that family business positively and significantly moderates the relationship between the
pressure of internal stakeholders and the adoption of green innovations. They associated
this moderating impact with the organisational culture and core values of the family
firms. Uhlaner et al. (2004) found that the existence of family surname in the name of a
firm resulted in enhanced social responsibility commitment by the companies. More
recently, Suzuki et al. (2010) found affiliation to a business group is associated to
institutionalisation of CSR in Japan. They argued that firms affiliated to a business group
seem to hold a strong group identity and their managers often exchange information at
meetings. Hence, membership in a business group contributes to the diffusion of business
ideas and practices within the group, including the institutionalisation of CSR. However,
empirical studies to understand the moderating influence of family group affiliation are
missing in the literature. Morck and Yeung (2003) argued that this happens because these
kinds of firms do not exist in the USA and UK where most corporate governance
research is conducted. As such, this study aims to fill this gap, by examining the
moderating role of family group affiliation on the influence of company size, industry
type, profitability and foreign ownership on CSR disclosure (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Research framework
Company size
Industry type
CSR disclosure
Profitability
Foreign ownership
Family group
affiliation
It is expected that family group affiliation will have positive moderating impact on the
relationship between company characteristics and CSR disclosure. This indicates that
affiliation to any family group will enhance the explanatory power of company’s
characteristics on CSR disclosure. Therefore, the following hypotheses are developed:
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
17
H1
The family group affiliation moderates the relationship between company’s size
and the level of social responsibility disclosure.
H2
The family group affiliation moderates the relationship between high profile
industries and social responsibility disclosure.
H3
The family group affiliation moderates the relationship between profitability and
social responsibility disclosure.
H4
The family group affiliation moderates the relationship between foreign ownership
and social responsibility disclosure.
3
Research methodology
3.1 Sample of the study
The study population comprises of all shareholding companies registered with the
Ministry of Industry and Trade in Yemen. Owing to lack of a stock exchange in Yemen,
there are no listed companies. These companies have been chosen because the
Companies Act (No 22) for the year 1997 on Commercial Companies in Article (92)
requires shareholding companies to publish their financial annual reports to the public.
Also these companies are required to submit a copy of their annual reports to the Ministry
of Trade and Industry. Therefore, the annual reports were collected through a request
letter addressed to Ministry of Industry and Trade or by visiting the company office in
2010. As of December 2007, there were 102 companies registered with the Ministry of
Trade and Industry in Yemen.
Table 1
Distribution of companies based on the family group affiliation
Family group affiliation
Frequency
Percent
No
30
41.1
Yes
43
58.9
Total
73
100
3.2 Data collection
This study focused on CSR disclosure in three years (2007, 2008 and 2009) using three
mediums of communication, namely annual reports, websites and newspapers. The three
media sources were chosen because focusing on one media source might result in
obtaining incomplete conclusions. Hence, researchers also focused on companies’
websites as well as advertisements and articles in the largest Yemeni newspaper, named
Althourah Daily, since many companies may use other tools of media to demonstrate
their social responsibility disclosures (see Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990). Besides, earlier
studies have mentioned the importance of websites and newspapers as the resources for
future research on CSR disclosure (Haniffa and Cooke, 2005; Ghazali, 2007).
18
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
3.3 Content analysis
Content analysis of the three sources of data, namely annual reports, websites and
newspapers, was performed through unweighted count of the number of words on social
disclosure. This is supported by Deegan and Gordon (1996) who suggested the use of
words over other forms of measure, such as ‘part-page’ disclosure. Words lend
themselves to more exclusive analysis (Gray et al., 1995b), provide greater detailed
descriptive values as the unit of analysis (Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990), and yield the same
results in repeated trials, as it can be easily replicated (Gamerschlag et al., 2011).
Moreover, word count has been used in previous studies (Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990;
Deegan and Rankin, 1996; Deegan and Gordon, 1996; Douglas et al., 2004; Haniffa and
Cooke, 2005; Xiao et al., 2005; Gao et al., 2005; Ratanajongkol et al., 2006;
Gamerschlag et al., 2011). Similarly, Haniffa and Cook (2005) used both word and
sentence counts and also found that there is a high correlation between the two
measurements. Thus, the choice of word as the unit of analysis is deemed to be suitable
for this study.
3.3.1 Annual reports
Each company’s annual report was analysed and the number of words under each CSR
theme related to any of the CSR categories was added to the scoring sheet. Each scoring
sheet was then coded with the company’s name and the year of the annual report. This
procedure was replicated for all of the annual reports for each year.
3.3.2 Websites
Each company’s website was accessed and examined entirely during 2007, 2008 and
2009 and each CSR theme related to any of the CSR categories, which were disclosed
and dated within the period of the study, was printed. The number of words was counted
and then added to the scoring sheet of each year. This similar procedure as what Williams
and Ho Wen Pei (1999) applied was adopted to ensure the reliability and control the
potential fluctuations owing to the timing differences between combing and comparing
the information obtained from websites with those taken from the annual reports and
newspapers. In examining a company’s website, the approaches suggested by McMurtrie
(2001) were followed except the following links:
•
•
•
web pages that were not rooted in the company’s name, and excluding all external
links that took the user outside the sphere of control of the target company
neither online copies of the annual report (Patten and Crampton, 2003), nor online
copies of social and/or environmental reports, were included in the web page and
newspaper analysis
links to external press release disclosures were also excluded (but press releases of
the companies were examined for CSR disclosure) (Patten and Crampton, 2003).
There are two reasons for the exclusions: first for segregation, as the idea is to collect the
data separately on the two media analysed (Frost et al., 2005). Second, because this
exclusion is an appropriate means of setting the boundaries (Douglas et al., 2004).
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
19
3.3.3 Newspaper
All issues for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 were entirely analysed. Words related to
CSR theme under any of the CSR categories disclosed by the sampled companies were
counted and added to the company’s scoring sheet.
3.4 Measurement
3.4.1 Corporate social responsibility disclosure
There are two types of measurements to measure the level of CSR disclosure, and the
choice between these methods depends on the objectives of the study. Some studies used
the measurement of CSR disclosure to measure the quality of this disclosure (e.g.,
Guthrie and Parker, 1990; Cormier and Gordon, 2001; Hasseldine et al., 2005), while
others used the measurement of CSR disclosure to measure the quantity of CSR
information disclosed (e.g., Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990; Zain, 1999; Haniffa and Cooke,
2005).
The quantity measurement is a measurement method which captures ‘quality’ of
disclosure, whereas measurement of counting the words, sentences and page for each
item of disclosure, captures the ‘extent’ or ‘level’ of disclosure and gives a clearer
picture of the extent to which the item is disclosed and puts more emphasis on the
particular content category of the item disclosed (Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990; Haniffa
and Cooke, 2005). In this study, the level of CSR disclosure is deemed important
and the quantification issue helps the study to capture a richer picture of the
CSR information provision (Unerman, 2000). In addition, the quantity of disclosures
could be a proxy for quality (e.g., Deegan and Gordon, 1996; Deegan and Rankin,
1996; Nielsen, 2008). However, Hooks and van Staden (2011) and Gunawan
(2010) found that the measurements of the quality and the quantity of CSR
disclosures are highly correlated and thus the choice between the two methods had little
difference.
The current study measured the quality level of CSR disclosure in annual reports,
websites and newspaper of the most active shareholding companies in Yemen similar to
the prior studies on CSR disclosure and developed a self-constructed CSR disclosure
index. However, Wallace (1988) indicated that there is no general theory on the items
that should be selected to assess the extent of disclosure. Moreover, the relevant
literature shows that there is no commonly used theory to determine the number
and selection of items for a disclosure index (Hooks et al., 2002). Thus, only
the categories and items that are important and applicable to the Yemeni environment and
are capable of capturing the areas that fall under CSR disclosure (Haron et al., 2007)
were selected for this study.
The final checklist for the index consists of 36 CSR information items grouped into
four categories, including human resources, community involvement, product/service and
environment. This categorisation is similar to previous research in the CSR literature
(Guthrie and Parker, 1989, Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990; Gray et al., 1995a; Hackston and
Milne, 1996; Zain, 1999; Haniffa and Cooke, 2005; Zain and Janggu, 2006; Branco and
Rodrigues, 2008).
20
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
3.4.2 Measurement of independent variables
3.4.2.1 Company size
Company size was measured by a number of alternative measurements either by the
number of employees, sales volume, total asset value, or an index rank, such as the
Fortune 500 (Choi, 1999). However, Choi (1999) suggested that there is no theoretical
reason for a particular measure of size in disclosure studies and previously, Kimberly
(1976) and Hackston and Milne (1996) found that employee numbers, sales,
market capitalisation, and total assets are highly correlated and thus the choice
between the different measurements of company size might cause little difference.
In this study, company’s total asset was used as a proxy of size and the logarithm
of firm’s total asset was used as size variable in the multiple regression analyses.
This is in line with the previous studies (Haniffa and Cooke, 2005; Branco and
Rodrigues, 2008) that measured firm size by using the natural logarithm of the book
value of the total firm assets.
3.4.2.2 Industry type
Industry type was measured using a dummy variable which took a value of one
if the company was affiliated to high profile sectors (manufacturing/ telecommunication),
and zero otherwise. Roberts (1992, p.605) defines high profile industries “as those
with consumer visibility, a high level of political risk, or concentrated intense
competition”.
In this study the companies were re-classified into high profile sectors and low profile
sectors, due to the small distribution of companies in some sectors, which could prevent
performing a basis for statistical analysis. High and low profile sectors classification was
chosen because high profile sector was found previously to be related to the high level of
CSR disclosure (Patten, 1991; Roberts, 1992; Hackston and Milne, 1996; Abu-Baker and
Naser, 2000; Ratanajongkol et al., 2006). Moreover, the manufacturing sector contained
companies dominated by Yemeni society as high profile companies.
3.4.2.3 Profitability
Similar to the studies by Hackston and Milne (1996) and Haniffa and Cooke (2002,
2005), company profitability was measured using their return on equity (ROE). The
reason for adopting accounting-based measurement is that it relies on past performance
(McGuire et al., 1988), unlike market-based measures which rely on investors’
viewpoints on company’s performance (Reverte, 2009).
3.4.2.4 Foreign share ownership
The measure of foreign share ownership in this study is the percentage of shares held by
foreign shareholders, similar to the measure used by the earlier researchers (e.g., Haniffa
and Cooke, 2002, 2005; Amran and Devi, 2008; Said et al., 2009).
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
21
3.4.3 Measurement of the moderating variable
3.4.3.1 Family group affiliation
Khanna (2000) argued that an understanding of the definition of business group is
important in any research that uses this construct. Business groups are special types of
enterprise system existing in almost every market economy. A business group can be
defined as “a set of legally independent firms that are linked to each other through
various economic and social relationships, and are operated in a coherent manner”
[Chung, (2001), p.721]. The important characteristic of a business group is that, each firm
within a group is legally independent in terms of identity and management. However, the
firms in the group are tied together by various relationships.
This study used only family group affiliation to measure the association of a company
with shareholding companies. The process of identifying these affiliations began with
gathering information about a company’s shareholders from the Ministry of Industry and
Trade in Yemen. The names of the shareholders (i.e. company, foundation and
individuals) were then traced in company’s publications and prospectuses. Consistent
with previous studies, the family group affiliation was identified by a dummy variable
that is set equal to ‘one’ if the company is affiliated to family business group and ‘zero’ if
it is not affiliated (Khanna and Rivkin, 2001; Singh and Gaur, 2009).
4
Data analysis
This research employed moderated multiple regression (MMR), in order to examine the
moderating impact of family group affiliation on the relationship between company’s
characteristics as the independent variables and corporate CSR disclosure as the
dependent variables. MMR analysis is an appropriate method for detecting the effects of
moderator variables (Baron and Kenny, 1986; Aguinis, 1995, 2004).
Following Aguinis (1995), Li and Atuahene-Gima (2001), and Goll and Rasheed
(2004), MMR was conducted using two-stage regressions. In the first stage, the
dependent variable was regressed with the independent variables and moderator variable
to represent the variables in the ordinary least-squares model. Equations (3) and (4) show
the OLS regressions that test the additive models of the main effect of company’s
characteristics and family group affiliation (moderator) on CSR disclosure.
•
Model 1 (OLS model):
•
Model 2 (MMR model):
CSRDL = β 0 + β1SZE + β 2 IND + β 3 PRO + β 4 FRGOWN + β 5 FAMGP + ε
CSRDL = β 0 + β1SZE + β 2 IND + β 3 PRO + β 4 FRGOWN
+ β 5 ( SZE * FAMGP ) + β 6 ( IND * FAMGP)
+ β 7 ( PRO * FAMGP ) + β 8 ( FOROW * FAMGP ) + ε
CSRDL = corporate socialresponsibility disclosure level
∂ = constant
22
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
SZE = the log of total assets
IND = 1 indicates industrytype is high profile and 0 otherwise
PRO = Return on Equity = Net Income/Shareholder’s Equity
FRGROWN = percentage of sharesheld by foreign shareholders
FAMGP = 1 indicates companyaffiliated to family group, and 0 otherwise
To test the data, the correlation matrix was reviewed and the variance inflation factors
(VIF) was computed in order to detect the existence of any multicollinearity problem.
However, as in many moderated regression analyses in the literature (e.g., Brock et al.,
2006), generating a new variable by multiplying together two existing variables risks
creating a multicollinearity problem. One approach to overcome this problem, suggested
by Aguinis (1995) is centring approach. This procedure involves, converting variables to
Z scores that have mean zero and standard deviation one. The standardised variables are
then multiplied together to create the interaction variable and entered in the moderated
regression. The standardised variables are then tested using the same approaches to see
whether the problem still persists. Accordingly, the results of this study showed that the
problem was ceased.
5
Results
Table 2 presents the results of the moderating effect of family group affiliation on the
relationship between two independent groups and corporate social responsibility
disclosure.
Model 1 examines the association of independent variables and moderated variable
with CSR disclosure in Yemen, while, model 2 examines the moderating impact of
family group affiliation on CSR disclosure level. Findings of the analysis as depicted in
Table 2 shows that Model 1 has the R square of 0.470 [F(5, 213) = 37.714, p = .0000],
indicating that 47% of the variation in the CSR disclosure could be explained by the
independent and the moderator variables. Model 2 presents the results after the
interaction term (independent × moderator variable) was added into the equation. Table 2
indicates that the R2 change from model 1 to model 2 is statistically significant (R2
change = .095, F(4, 209) = 11.364, p = 0.000). This R2 change confirms that there is a
significant moderating impact by family group affiliation on the link between the
independent variables and CSR disclosure level (Baron and Kenny, 1986; Aguinis, 1995;
Hair et al., 2006).
The results of model 2 also show that only three of the interactions produced a
significant relationship, as the coefficient of the interaction of (size * family group),
(profitability * family group), and (foreign ownership * family group) with CSR
disclosure level were significant at 1% significance level. This result implies that the
impact of company size, profitability, and foreign ownership on social responsibility
disclosure is stronger in companies affiliated to family group. Hence H1, H3, and H4 are
supported.
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
Table 2
23
Regression results for the moderating effect of family group affiliation on the
relationship between company’s characteristics and CSR disclosure
Model 1
Variables
Coeff
Constant
Model 2
t-statistics Sig.
Coeff
t-statistics
Sig.
1,097.562
17.519
.000
796.924
9.281
.000
359.503
4.517
.000
203.939
2.568
.011
Industry type
284.531
3.600
.000
104.884
1.330
.185
Profitability (ROE)
298.904
3.947
.000
306.556
3.990
.000***
Foreign ownership
71.809
1.083
.280
82.399
1.288
.199
174.353
2.108
.036
459.352
4.959
.000***
Size × family group
291.477
3.686
.000***
Industry type× family group
133.631
1.625
.106
Profitability × family group
291.945
4.033
.000***
Foreign ownership ×
family group
173.734
2.855
.005**
Company’s characteristics
Size
Moderator variable
Family group affiliation
Interaction effects
R2
2
Adj. R
.470
.564
.457
.546
R2 change
F-value
.095
37.714***
11.364***
Note: ***Significant at the 0.01 level
**Significant at the 0.05 level
*Significant at the 0.1 level.
6
Conclusions and discussion
Findings of this study indicated that family group affiliation has significant moderating
effect on the relationships between the company’s characteristics and CSR disclosure.
This result is consistent with the argument that family firms are unique. Owing to the
influence of a family group on the ownership, governance, management and succession
in the company, as well as on its objectives, strategies and structure and the way in which
these are formulated, designed and implemented (Chua et al., 1999; Neubauer and Lank,
1998), they view social responsibility differently. As these firms view their ownership as
an asset to pass on to their descendants, rather than wealth to consume during their
lifetimes (Anderson et al., 2003), they are seen to show greater commitment towards their
social responsibility which can build a good reputation for them (Dyer and Whetten,
2006; Wiklund, 2006). This ensures their legitimacy and avoids unnecessary risks of
conflicts between the stakeholders and the company.
The finding of this study supports previous studies that showed a positive relationship
between the family companies and CSR and between business groups and CSR. For
instance, Suzuki et al. (2010) found affiliation to a business group is associated with
24
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
institutionalisation of CSR in Japan. They argued that firms affiliated to business groups
seem to hold strong group identity and their managers often exchange information at
meetings. It is therefore possible that membership in a business group contributes to the
diffusion of business ideas and practices within the group, including the
institutionalisation of CSR. Moreover, Huang et al. (2009) found that family business
positively and significantly moderates the relationship between the pressure of internal
stakeholder and the adoption of green innovations in Taiwan. They linked this
moderating impact to the organisational culture and core values of family firms. Uhlaner
et al. (2004) studied the impact of family surname in firm name on corporate social
responsibility in family firms in Netherlands. They concluded that the existence of family
surname in firm name increased the company’s social responsibility. Gallo (2004)
reported that family firms are more socially responsible than non-family firms. He further
argued that family firms have a more long term orientation, which could lead to more
sustainable management activities and ultimately higher performance sustainability
(Anderson and Reeb, 2003).
Our findings are in line with above studies. The possible explanation for the
significant moderating impact of family group affiliation in this study lies in the study
context. Since Yemen is a poor country, the rich families in the country have a strong
commitment to philanthropic activities. In addition, given that Yemen is a Muslim
country where the principles of brotherhood are always promoted and sought after,
companies are under increasing pressure by the society to seek these expectations and
responsibilities. Moreover, according to Islam, contributing small portions to the society
is a must. This is a religious practice known as zakat and is considered as a norm for
Muslim countries. Going against a norm may create conflict which eventually may
jeopardise the business operation. Hence, practicing CSR and communicating it to the
public is very important to maintain the license to operate.
The moderating effect of family values towards a company which is big in size is
clearly consistent with legitimacy theory. The bigger the company, the higher its
visibility in the public’s eyes, resulting in increased urgency for the company to maintain
its reputation and obtain legitimacy. Any misbehaviour can easily tarnish the image of a
company and invite unwanted attacks and scrutiny from the stakeholder. A company is
also expected to perform more CSR practices when making more profit. This is expected
as the company has more resources to perform bigger contributions to the society at
large. It is expected that foreign shareholders should help to further enhance the
relationship with stakeholders through CSR campaigns as this will help them to maintain
their operation running in Yemen.
6.1 Implications
There are important potential implications from the results of this study. First, this study
indicated that legitimacy theory appears to support the findings of this study. The
legitimacy theory suggests that organisations utilise CSR disclosure of social
responsibility to justify and legitimise their conducts to the society. Thus, this study
established the argument that the company’s characteristics affect CSR disclosure and
this relationship was moderated by the affiliation to a family group. Secondly, this
research also provides additional insights on the CSR disclosure literature, in response to
calls for additional research on the link between the family business and CSR (Gallo,
2004; Deniz and Suárez, 2005; Dyer and Whetten, 2006; Martos and Torraleja, 2007).
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
25
Even though a number of researchers have studied the impact of the family business
towards the CSR, there are not sufficient prior studies which investigate the moderating
influence of family group affiliation on the CSR practices of firms.
6.2 Limitations
The current study has two important limitations. First, the sample of the study consists of
only 73 active registered shareholding companies in Yemen. Hence, extending the
sample by including other types of companies would provide extra evidences of CSR
disclosure level. The second limitation pertains to the measure used for measuring the
level of CSR. Since CSR is in its early stages in Yemen, there is a need for an in-depth
study into the quantity of CSR disclosure and identification of areas of future
improvement. Since this study focuses on family business and CSR disclosure, future
studies could be conducted to further examine the moderating effects of family group in
the relationships between CSR disclosure and other critical independent variable such as
managers’ characteristics (age, working experiences and educational level). Future
studies could also investigate the effects of few other established moderating variables
such as organisational culture on the above relationships to provide new insights and
information on the boundary conditions for degree of CSR disclosure relationship.
References
Abu-Baker, N. and Naser, K. (2000) ‘Empirical evidence on corporate social disclosure (CSD)
practices in Jordan’, International Journal of Commerce and Management, Vol. 10, Nos. 3–4,
pp.18–34.
Adrem, A.H. (1999) Essays on Disclosure Practices in Sweden – Causes and Effects, Lund
University Press, Lund.
Aguilera, R.V., Williams, C.A., Conley, J.M. and Rupp, D.E. (2006) ‘Corporate governance and
social responsibility: a comparative analysis of the UK and the US’, Corporate Governance:
An International Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.147–158.
Aguinis, H. (1995) ‘Statistical power with moderated multiple regression in management research.
Journal of Management, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp.1141–1158.
Aguinis, H. (2004) Regression Analysis for Categorical Moderators, The Gilford Press, New York.
Allen, M.P. and Panian, S.K. (1982) ‘Power, performance, and succession in the large corporation’,
Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp.538–547.
Althawra Daily (2008) Thursday, October 2008 NO (16059).
Amran, A. and Devi, S.S. (2008) ‘The impact of government and foreign affiliate influence on
corporate social reporting: the case of Malaysia’, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 23,
No. 4, pp.386–404.
Anderson, R.C. and Reeb, D.M. (2003) ‘Founding family ownership and firm performance:
Evidence from the S&P 500’, Journal of finance, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp.1301–1328.
Anderson, R.C., Mansi, S.A. and Reeb, D.M. (2003) ‘Founding family ownership and the agency
cost of debt’, Journal of financial Economics, Vol. 68, No. 2, pp.263–285.
Bakar, A., Sheikh, A. and Ameer, R. (2011) ‘Readability of corporate social responsibility
communication in Malaysia’, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
Management, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.50–60.
Baron, R.M. and Kenny, D.A. (1986) ‘The moderator-mediator variable distinction in
social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations’, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51, No. 6, pp.1173–1182.
26
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
Belal, A.R. (2001) ‘A study of corporate social disclosures in Bangladesh’, Managerial Auditing
Journal, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp.274–289.
Belhaj, M. and Damak-Ayadi, S. (2011) ‘Financial performance, environmental performance and
environmental disclosure: the case of Tunisian firms’, Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and
Accounting, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp.248–269.
Block, J. (2010) ‘Family management, family ownership, and downsizing: evidence from S&P 500
firms’, Family Business Review, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp.1–22.
Brammer, S. and Pavelin, S. (2006) ‘Voluntary environmental disclosures by large UK companies’,
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Vol. 33, Nos. 7/8, pp.1168–1188.
Branco, M.C. and Delgado, C. (2011) ‘Research on corporate social responsibility and disclosure in
Portugal’, Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.202–217.
Branco, M.C. and Rodrigues, L.L. (2008) ‘Factors influencing social responsibility disclosure by
Portuguese companies’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 83, No. 4, pp.685–701.
Brock, D.M., Yaffe, T. and Dembovsky, M. (2006) ‘International diversification and performance:
a study of global law firms’, Journal of International Management, Vol. 12, No. 4,
pp.473–489.
Chapple, W. and Moon, J. (2005) ‘Corporate social responsibility in Asia: a seven country study of
CSR website reporting’, Business and Society, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp.415–441.
Cho, C. and Patten, D.M. (2007) ‘The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: a
research note, accounting’, Organizations and Society, Vol. 32, Nos. 7–8, pp.639–647.
Choi, J.S. (1999) ‘An investigation of the initial voluntary environmental disclosures made in
Korean semi-annual financial reports’, Pacific Accounting Review, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.73–102.
Chua, J.H., Chrisman, J.J. and Sharma, P. (1999) ‘Defining the family business by behavior’,
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp.19–40.
Chung, C. (2001) ‘Markets, culture and institutions: the emergence of large business groups in
Taiwan, 1950s–1970s’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp.719–745.
Cormier, D. and Gordon, I.M. (2001) ‘An examination of social and environmental reporting
strategies’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp.587–616.
Deegan, C. (2007) ‘Organizational legitimacy as a motive for sustainability reporting’, in Unerman,
J. Bebbington, J. and O’Dwyer, B. (Eds.): Sustainability, Accounting and Accountability,
Routledge, London, UK.
Deegan, C. (2009) Financial Accounting Theory, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde.
Deegan, C. and Gordon, B. (1996) ‘A study of the environmental disclosure practices of Australian
corporations’, Accounting and Business Research, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp.187–199.
Deegan, C. and Rankin, M. (1996) ‘Do Australian companies report environmental news
objectively? An analysis of environmental disclosures by firms prosecuted successfully by the
environmental protection authority’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 9,
No. 2, pp.50–67.
Deegan, C. and Rankin, M. (1999) ‘The environmental reporting expectations gap: Australian
evidence’, The British Accounting Review, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp.313–346.
Deniz, M.C.D. and Suárez, M.K.C. (2005) ‘Corporate social responsibility and family business in
Spain’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp.27–41.
Douglas, A., Doris, J. and Johnson, B. (2004) ‘Corporate social reporting in Irish financial
institutions’, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp.387–395.
Dyer Jr., W.G. and Whetten, D.A. (2006) ‘Family firms and social responsibility: preliminary
evidence from the S&P 500’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 30, No. 6,
pp.785–802.
Elsbach, K. (1994) ‘Managing organizational legitimacy in the California cattle industry: the
construction and effectiveness of verbal accounts’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 39,
No. 1, pp.57–88.
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
27
Frost, G., Jones, S., Loftus, J. and Laan, S. (2005) ‘A survey of sustainability reporting practices of
Australian reporting entities’, Australian Accounting Review, Vol. 15, No. 35, pp.89–96.
Gallo, M. (2004) ‘The family business and its social responsibilities’, Family Business Review,
Vol. 17, No. 2, pp.135–149.
Gamerschlag, R., Möller, K. and Verbeeten, F. (2011) ‘Determinants of voluntary CSR disclosure:
empirical evidence from Germany’, Review of Managerial Science, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.233–262.
Gao, S., Saeed, H. and Xiao, J. (2005) ‘Determinants of corporate social and environmental
reporting in Hong Kong: a research note’, Accounting Forum, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp.233–242.
Ghazali, N.A.M. (2007) ‘Ownership structure and corporate social responsibility disclosure: some
Malaysian evidence’, Corporate Governance, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.251–266.
Goll, I. and Rasheed, A.A. (2004) ‘The moderating effect of environmental munificence and
dynamism on the relationship between discretionary social responsibility and firm
performance’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp.41–54.
Gray, R., Kouhy, R. and Lavers, S. (1995a) ‘Corporate social and environmental reporting: a
review of the literature and a longitudinal study of UK disclosure’, Accounting, Auditing, &
Accountability Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.47–77.
Gray, R., Kouhy, R. and Lavers, S. (1995b) ‘Constructing a research database of social and
environmental reporting by UK companies’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal,
Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.78–101.
Gunawan, J. (2010) ‘Perception of important information in corporate social disclosures: evidence
from Indonesia’, Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.62–71.
Guthrie, J.E. and Parker, L.D. (1990) ‘Corporate social disclosure practice: a comparative
international analysis’, Advances in Public Interest Accounting, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.159–176.
Hackston, D. and Milne, M.J. (1996) ‘Some determinants of social and environmental disclosures
in New Zealand companies’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1,
pp.77–108.
Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., Anderson, R. and Tatham, R. (2006) Multivariate Data Analysis,
6th ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Haniffa, R.M. and Cooke, T.E. (2002) ‘Culture, corporate governance and disclosure in Malaysian
corporations’, Abacus, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp.317–349.
Haniffa, R.M. and Cooke, T.E. (2005) ‘The impact of culture and governance on corporate social
reporting’, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp.391–430.
Haron, H., Ismail, I. and Yahya, S. (2007) ‘Factors influencing corporate social disclosure practices
in Malaysia’, Corporate social responsibility: Our first look, Malaysian Institute of Integrity,
Kuala Lumpur.
Hasseldine, J., Salama, A.I. and Toms, J.S. (2005) ‘Quantity versus quality: the impact of
environmental disclosures on the reputations of UK Plcs’, The British Accounting Review,
Vol. 37, No. 2, pp.231–248.
Hayel, S.A. (2008) ‘Social responsibility in the thought of Hayel Saeed Anam Group: motives –
policies – a vision for the future’, Paper presented at the First Corporate Social Responsibility
Conference in Yemen.
Hearit, K.M. (1995) ‘Mistakes were made: organizations, apologia, and crises of social legitimacy’,
Communication Studies, Vol. 46, Nos. 1–2, pp.1–17.
Hooghiemstra, R. (2000) ‘Corporate communication and impression management – new
perspectives why companies engage in corporate social reporting’, Journal of Business Ethics,
Vol. 27, Nos. 1–2, pp.55–68.
Hooks, J. and van Staden, C.J. (2011) ‘Evaluating environmental disclosure: the relationship
between quality and extent measures’, The British Accounting Review, Vol. 43, No. 3,
pp.200–213.
Hooks, J., Coy, D. and Davey, H. (2002) ‘The information gap in annual reports’, Accounting,
Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp.501–522.
28
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
Hossain, M. and Reaz, M. (2007) ‘The determinants and characteristics of voluntary disclosures by
Indian banking companies’, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,
Vol. 14, No. 5, pp.274–288.
Huang, Y.C., Ding, H.B. and Kao, M.R. (2009) ‘salient stakeholder voices: family business and
green innovation adoption’, Journal of Management and Organization, Vol. 15, No. 3,
pp.309–326.
Isack, I. and Tan, R.C.W. (2008) ‘Transparent blue skies for the global airline industry: a study of
key accounting disclosures’, Journal of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental
Accountability, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.12–23.
Jaggi, B. and Low, P.Y. (2000) ‘Impact of culture, market forces, and legal system on financial
disclosures’, The International Journal of Accounting, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp.495–519.
Jo, H. and Harjoto, M.A. (2012) ‘The causal effect of corporate governance on corporate social
responsibility’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 106, No. 1, pp.53–72.
Kamal, Y. and Deegan, C. (2013) ‘Corporate social and environment-related governance disclosure
practices in the textile and garment industry: evidence from a developing country’, Australian
Accounting Review, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp.117–134.
Kansal, M., Joshi, M. and Batra, G.S. (2014) ‘Determinants of corporate social responsibility
disclosures: evidence from India’, Advances in Accounting, Incorporating Advances in
International Accounting, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.217–229.
Khan, A., Muttakin, M.B. and Siddiqui, J. (2013) ‘Corporate governance and corporate social
responsibility disclosures: evidence from an emerging economy’, Journal of Business Ethics,
Vol. 114, No. 2, pp.207–223.
Khanna, T. (2000) ‘Business groups and social welfare in emerging markets: existing evidence and
unanswered questions’, European Economic Review, Vol. 44, Nos. 4–6, pp.748–761.
Khanna, T. and Palepu, K. (1997) ‘Why focused strategies may be wrong for emerging markets’,
Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, No. 4, pp.41–51.
Khanna, T. and Rivkin, J.W. (2001) ‘Estimating the performance effects of business groups in
emerging markets’, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp.45–74.
Kimberly, J.R. (1976) ‘Organizational size and the structuralist perspective: a review, critique, and
proposal’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp.571–597.
Le Breton-Miller, I. and Miller, D. (2009) ‘Agency vs. stewardship in public family firms: a social
embeddedness reconciliation’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 33, No. 6,
pp.1169–1191.
Li, H. and Atuahene-Gima, K. (2001) ‘Product innovation strategy and the performance of new
technology ventures in China’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No. 6,
pp.1123–1134.
Li, W. and Zhang, R. (2010) ‘Corporate social responsibility, ownership structure, and political
interference: evidence from China’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 96, No. 4, pp.631–645.
Martos, M.C. and Torraleja, F.A. (2007) ‘Is family business more socially responsible? the case of
grupo CIM’, Business and Society Review, Vol. 112, No. 1, pp.121–136.
McBarnet, D., Voiculescu, A. and Campbell, T. (2007) The New Corporate Accountability
Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.
McGuire, J.B. Sundgren, A. and Schneeweis, T. (1988) ‘Corporate social responsibility and firm
financial performance’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp.854–872.
McMurtrie, T. (2001) ‘Disclosure through the looking glass’, Paper presented at the 3rd APIRA
Conference, Adelaide University.
Menassa, E. (2010) ‘Corporate social responsibility: an exploratory study of the quality and extent
of social disclosures by Lebanese commercial banks’, Journal of Applied Accounting
Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.4–23.
Michelon, G. and Parbonetti, A. (2012) ‘The effect of corporate governance on sustainability
disclosure’, Journal of Management & Governance, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.477–509.
Does family group affiliation matter in CSR reporting?
29
Morck, R. and Yeung, B. (2003) ‘Agency problems in large family business groups’,
Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp.367–382.
Muttakin, M.B. and Khan, A. (2014) ‘Determinants of corporate social disclosure: empirical
evidence from Bangladesh’, Advances in Accounting, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.168–175.
Neubauer, F. and Lank, A.G. (1998) The Family Business: It’s Governance for Sustainability,
McMillan Press Ltd, London.
Nielsen, C. (2008) ‘A content analysis of analyst research: health care through the eyes of analysts’,
Journal of Health Care Finance, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.66–90.
Patten, D.M. (1991) ‘Exposure, legitimacy, and social disclosure’, Journal of Accounting and
Public Policy, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.297–308.
Patten, D.M. and Crampton, W. (2003) ‘Legitimacy and the internet: an examination of corporate
web page environmental disclosures’, Advances in Environmental Accounting and
Management, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.31–57.
Pirsch, J., Gupta, S. and Landreth-Grau, S. (2007) ‘A framework for understanding corporate social
responsibility programs as a continuum: an exploratory study’, Journal of Business Ethics,
Vol. 70, No. 2, pp.125–140.
Porter, M.E. and Krammer, M.R. (2002) ‘The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy’,
Harvard Business Review, Vol. 80, No. 12, pp.57–68.
Rahim, M.M. and Alam, S. (2014) ‘Convergence of corporate social responsibility and corporate
governance in weak economies: the case of Bangladesh’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 121,
No. 4, pp.607–620.
Ratanajongkol, S., Davey, H. and Low, M. (2006) ‘Corporate social reporting in Thailand: the
news is all good and increasing’, Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 3,
No. 1, pp.67–83.
Reverte, C. (2009) ‘Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure ratings by Spanish
listed firms’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 88, No. 2, pp.351–366.
Roberts, R.W. (1992) ‘Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: an application of
stakeholder theory’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp.595–612.
Said, R., Zainuddin, Y.H. and Haron, H. (2009) ‘The relationship between corporate social
responsibility disclosure and corporate governance characteristics in Malaysian public listed
companies’, Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.212–226.
Singh, D.A. and Gaur, A.S. (2009) ‘Business group affiliation, firm governance, and firm
performance: evidence from China and India’, Corporate Governance: An International
Review, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp.411–425.
Stanny, E. and Ely, K. (2008) ‘Corporate environmental disclosures about the effects of climate
change’, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 15, No. 6,
pp.338–348.
Stavrou, E., Kassinis, G. and Filotheou, A. (2007) ‘Downsizing and stakeholder orientation among
the Fortune 500: does family ownership matter?’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 72, No. 2,
pp.149–162.
Suzuki, K., Tanimoto, K. and Kokko, A. (2010) ‘Does foreign investment matter & quest; effects
of foreign investment on the institutionalization of corporate social responsibility by Japanese
firms’, Asian Business & Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.379–400.
Uhlaner, L.M., van Goor-Balk, H.J.M.A. and Masurel, E. (2004) ‘Family business and corporate
social responsibility in a sample of Dutch firms, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise
Development, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp.186–194.
Vogel, D. (2005) The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social
Responsibility, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Wallace, R. (1988) ‘Intranational and international consensus on the importance of disclosure items
in financial reports: a Nigerian case study’, The British Accounting Review, Vol. 20, No. 3,
pp.223–265.
30
N.A.M. Alawi et al.
Ward, J.L. (2004) Perpetuating the Family Business: 50 Lessons Learned from Long Lasting,
Successful Families in Business, Family Enterprise Publishers, Marietta, GA.
Wiklund, J. (2006) ‘Commentary: family firms and social responsibility: preliminary evidence
from the S&P 500’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp.803–808.
Williams, S.M. and Ho Wern Pei, C.A. (1999) ‘Corporate social disclosures by listed companies on
their web sites: an international comparison’, The International Journal of Accounting,
Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.389–419.
Wilmshurst, T.D. and Frost, G.R. (2000) ‘Corporate environmental reporting: a test of legitimacy
theory’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.10–26.
Won, Y., Chang, Y. and Martynov, A. (2011) ‘The effect of ownership structure on corporate
social responsibility: empirical evidence from Korea’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 104,
No. 2, pp.283–297.
Xiao, J.Z., Gao, S.S., Heravi, S. and Cheung, Y.C.Q. (2005) ‘The impact of social and economic
development on corporate social and environmental disclosure in Hong Kong and the UK’,
Advances in International Accounting, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.219–243.
Zain, M.M. (1999) Corporate Social Reporting in Malaysia: The Current State of the Art and
Future Prospects, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Sheffield, Sheffield.
Zain, M.M. and Janggu, T. (2006) ‘Corporate social disclosure (CSD) of construction companies in
Malaysia’, Malaysian Accounting Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.85–114.
Zeghal, D. and Ahmed, S.A. (1990) ‘Comparison of social responsibility information disclosure
media used by Canadian firms’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1,
pp.38–53.