Authors : Goh Ie Chieh, Norhayah Zulkifli and Dalilawati Zaina
Abstract: This study examines the development of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting (CSRR) practices in Malaysia, pre-and post-mandatory CSRR implementation by the mandate of government and Bursa Malaysia (formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange). This research is conducted within the context of explaining and comparing the depths and extents of CSRR for 2 year, 2006 (voluntary) and 2008 (mandatory) in annual reports of 50 companies listed in Bursa Malaysia by which the influence of government intervention is then accessed in accordance to the Bursa Malaysia Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Framework. An examination of CSRR disclosed in these 100 annual reports (50 companies for two year) via content analysis and sample t-tests within the perspective of political economy theory and stakeholder theory revealed very little influence of the government mandate towards the depth and extent of CSRR disclosed by the sampled companies. The findings indicate that CSRR practices between the two year, though may seem to have increased in general; however it is not significant as companies are seen to be more incline to focus specifically on activities relating to their external stakeholders such as market players (e.g., customers, shareholders, suppliers) and community. In addition, although this study does not give emphasis on company’s size and market capitalization, there is an apparent trend observed in the results obtained indicating that larger companies seem to have better quality of CSRR. Overall, findings from this study call for more active engagement between the companies and the relevant authorities to further improve the existing CSRR regulation in the country. This study contributes to the existing CSRR literature by presenting the trend of CSRR in two different reporting regimes (e.g. voluntary and mandatory) from the developing countries’ perspective.
Goh Ie Chieh, Norhayah Zulkifli and Dalilawati Zaina, 2016. Voluntary and Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting (Csrr): a Developing Country Perspective. International Business Management, 10: 5757-5766.