Authors : Bakr Ali Al-Gamrh and Redhwan Ahmed AL-Dhamari
Abstract: This study evaluates the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) information disclosed by the Saudi listed firms and investigates the influence of six firm characteristics (firm size, industry type, government ownership, firm age, capital raised and audit firm size) on the CSR disclosure. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) on a cross-sectional data to examine listed firms in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). We constructed an index to measure the CSR disclosure level and found that Saudi firms have a low CSR disclosure level. We also found that large, government-owned and old firms disclose more CSR information. This study provides a significant contribution to evaluate the CSR reporting in Saudi Arabia which is a developing country that produces a large proportion of the world’s oil. Results provide signals of the low seriousness of gathered efforts to face the challenges of climate change which should not only be a concern for developed countries.
Bakr Ali Al-Gamrh and Redhwan Ahmed AL-Dhamari, 2016. Firm Characteristics and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure. International Business Management, 10: 4283-4291.