This paper puts forward an argument that cultural factors interact with the institutional structures of organizations; and thus influence their CSR reporting system. Observations on 403 annual reports, corporate websites and CSR stand-alone reports of 203 companies in China, Malaysia, India and the UK support the argument. The results show that in China, both the quality and quantity of CSR disclosure increase significantly with the existence of CSR board committees, where the culture is one of collectivism, rather than of individualism. The paper also demonstrated that government-owned companies in Malaysia provide CSR disclosure of a quality higher than non-government owned companies. A similar relationship does not apply to companies in other countries. The results testify to institutional theory — that CSR reporting is influenced by the organizational settings of a country and the culture of a country. For policy makers, it is suggested that CSR reporting policy should be drafted in a way that suits the local culture.

Cross-Cultural

10.2139/ssrn.2498257

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Citations (3)

Stakeholder engagement during COVID-19: evidence from corporate use of Twitter

Social Responsibility Journal (2022)

Mahmood Ahmed Momin Sabrina Chong Chris van Staden Lin Ma

Purpose This study aims to investigate how New Zealand companies use Twitter to communicate and engage effectively with stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a conceptual framework for effective stakeholder engagement by using social media to analyse the themes and emotion of company tweets during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. The engagement of stakeholders with these tweets is also examined. This study argues that companies use selected themes and emotive language to connect with their stakeholders. Findings The findings show that selective themes and emotions are useful in company COVID-19 tweets to engage with the stakeholders. COVID-19 tweets contained significantly more emotion than non-COVID tweets, with emotions that can convey empathy being the most common. By presenting themselves as real, personable and empathetic towards others through emotive language, companies can engage in more meaningful and ethical way with their stakeholders. Practical implications The paper has implications for managing company communications by providing empirical evidence that both the themes and emotion expressed in the messages are important for effective stakeholder engagement in social media. Originality/value The conceptual framework for effective stakeholder engagement using social media is novel and can be used to evaluate and investigate stakeholder engagement during a global crisis.

Emotive

Stakeholder Engagement

Value (mathematics)

10.1108/srj-08-2022-0314

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Citations (4)

Corporate ownership choice based on ethical criteria: Is it big enough to notice?

Corporate Ownership and Control (2010)

Charl de Villiers Chris van Staden

Ethical investors often exclude firms that participate in so-called controversial activities, such as tobacco, alcohol, firearms, gambling, the military, and nuclear operations, from their investment portfolios. Firms excluded in this way should experience an increase in their cost of capital and a reduction in their share prices. We use the KLD database to identify S&P 500 firms involved in controversial activities. Our results show no difference between controversial activity firms and other firms regarding relative share price and we find that the cost of capital of controversial activity firms is in fact lower. We conclude that ethical investing, of the type that excludes controversial activity firms, does not influence the capital markets in the expected way.

Investment

Capital (architecture)

10.22495/cocv8i1p2

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Social movement NGOs and the comprehensiveness of conflict mineral disclosures: evidence from global companies

Accounting Organizations and Society (2017)

Muhammad Azizul Islam Chris van Staden

10.1016/j.aos.2017.11.002

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Citations (97)

The influence of corporate social responsibility disclosure on share prices

Pacific Accounting Review (2015)

Marna de Klerk Charl de Villiers Chris van Staden

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between share prices and the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of large UK companies, using CSR data from an independent firm and a time period and setting (the UK) that coincides with increased legislation and increased public awareness of corporate social and environmental issues. Against a background of increased interest by investors in CSR disclosure, prior mixed results on the association between CSR disclosure and share prices suggest the need for further research that overcome some of the identified limitations of the extant literature. Design/methodology/approach – A modified Ohlson (1995) model is used to examine the relationship between CSR disclosure and share prices among the 100 largest UK companies. Three different measures of CSR disclosure are used to ensure robustness of results. Findings – The paper finds that higher levels of CSR disclosure are associated with higher share prices. Furthermore, the paper provides evidence that CSR disclosure by companies operating in environmentally sensitive industries show a stronger association with share prices than CSR disclosure by companies operating in other industries. The paper concludes that CSR disclosure provides incremental value-relevant information to investors beyond financial accounting information. Originality/value – To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to provide evidence of the incremental value of CSR disclosure to share price determination in the UK, a country where CSR disclosure is high on the agenda. Our findings provide evidence that CSR disclosures by companies and, in particular, disclosures following the global reporting initiative(GRI) guidelines, are useful to investors and shareholders, as it is related to share price information.

Share price

Value (mathematics)

Public disclosure

10.1108/par-05-2013-0047

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Citations (156)

The environmental disclosures of the electricity generation industry: a global perspective

Accounting and Business Research (2016)

Bakhtiar Alrazi Charl de Villiers Chris van Staden

The electricity generation industry has been under close regulatory and public scrutiny for decades for the significant impacts its activities have on the environment. The industry is responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which has intensified public and regulatory scrutiny of late. Therefore, electricity generation firms face immense pressure to show environmental responsibility. Firms respond with environmental disclosures in their annual reports, in stand-alone-reports, and on websites. In this study, we use comprehensive disclosure indices to measure the quality (or comprehensiveness) of the CO2 emissions related disclosure and the overall environmental disclosure of 205 electricity generation firms in 35 countries. We find that firms in countries with a high commitment towards the environment and a carbon emissions trading scheme (measures of social concern for environmental protection and emissions), are likely to disclose more comprehensive environmental information. In addition, we find that firm size, age of the assets, listing status, and media exposure influence disclosure. Environmental performance, measured by CO2 emissions, is not significantly related to environmental disclosure among our sample firms. The theoretical implication of these findings is that social beliefs (that are different in different countries) prompt a legitimating disclosure response from firms that is not significantly affected by their performance against that social belief.

Scrutiny

Listing (finance)

Environmental reporting

Sample (material)

Public disclosure

10.1080/00014788.2015.1135781

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Citations (87)

The relevance of theories of political economy to the understanding of financial reporting in South Africa: the case of value added statements

Accounting Forum (2003)

Chris van Staden

In South Africa there has been a sustained increase in the level of publication of the value added statement since the mid 1980s. Currently nearly 50% of all companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange publish a value added statement as part of their annual financial statements and a much higher proportion of the top 100 companies in the industrial sector publish the statement. The aim of this research is to contribute towards an understanding of the motivation for the sustained high level of publication of the value added statement, which is confined to South Africa at present. The findings indicate that legitimacy theory and the political economy of accounting theory provide the best explanation for the continued publication of the statement in South Africa. Evidence was also found that supports the use of the value added statement for legitimising current action and behaviour rather than reporting objectively on social issues. This paper extends the literature on legitimacy theory to a social disclosure, the publication of the value added statement. It also contributes to the literature by showing that legitimising behaviour is also observed when a major political change brings uncertainty as to society's expectations of the economic system and the role of private enterprise.

Relevance

Value (mathematics)

10.1111/1467-6303.00103

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Citations (33)

The IIRC's 2013 International Integrated Reporting Framework: An evolution in sustainability reporting or a captured process?

Chris van Staden Susan Wild

Integrated reporting

Sustainability Reporting

Source

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Citations (10)

Motivations for corporate social and environmental reporting: New Zealand evidence

Sustainability Accounting Management and Policy Journal (2016)

Stevie Dobbs Chris van Staden

Purpose This paper aims to investigate corporate motivations for voluntarily reporting social and environmental information in New Zealand. The approach used in this study also gives the opportunity to gain insights into the internal systems and views of companies and allows the authors to make better judgements of the intentions of companies in undertaking corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Design/methodology/approach A survey is used and then extended to match corporate survey responses with content analysis results of actual company reporting. The results of the survey and the content analysis are examined both individually and collectively to gather more context for corporate motivations. Findings The authors find that community concerns and shareholder rights were the most important factors that influenced the companies’ decision to report. The driving force for a sustainability agenda within these companies is usually a member of senior management. The authors also find that reporting frameworks and highly formalised internal systems were not frequently used, external assurance of CSR reporting was lacking and there were low levels of stakeholder engagement. A commitment to reporting comprehensive CSR disclosures and accepting responsibility towards a range of stakeholders were, therefore, not in evidence. Research limitations/implications For researchers, the value is in further revising analysis techniques and expanding existing research methods used in this area. The study brings together important CSR topics from across the literature, including reporting levels and characteristics, internal CSR systems, CSR assurance and stakeholder engagement, to investigate the motivation for CSR reporting. Practical implications The results suggest that New Zealand companies are not currently fully committed to social and environmental reporting and that CSR reporting is most likely used to create the impression of being concerned about sustainability to increase legitimacy with stakeholders and society. The results highlight the importance of having formalised systems to ensure that disclosures are accurate and comprehensive. Originality/value The results contribute to the literature by providing a current view of the motivations for reporting companies to report or not report. The approach used gives the opportunity to gain insights into the internal systems and views of companies and allows the authors to make better judgements of the intentions of companies in undertaking CSR reporting.

Stakeholder Engagement

Sustainability Reporting

10.1108/sampj-08-2015-0070

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Citations (93)