Determinants of social and environmental responsibility disclosures. (2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Giannarakis, Grigoris
• Is Part Of: International journal of sustainable society. Volume 7:Number 3(2015)
• Page Start: 266
• Page End: 285
• Publication Date: 2015
• Subjects: corporate social responsibility -- CSR -- corporate governance -- determinants -- social disclosure -- environmental disclosure -- return on sales -- return on equity -- leverage -- board of directors -- board meetings -- board size -- firm size; Sustainable development -- Periodicals; Sustainability -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; Environmental responsibility -- Periodicals; Sustainable agriculture -- Periodicals; 304.2805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-2538

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between social disclosures and environmental disclosures to six corporate characteristics, namely, return on sales, return on equity, leverage, board meetings of directors, board size and corporate size. For the purpose of the study, a sample of 100 companies from the Fortune 500 list is selected for the year 2011 using a social and environmental disclosure score as provided by Bloomberg database. The results based on the multiple linear regressions indicate that the return on sales and the return on equity are positively associated at both social and environmental disclosures while leverage is associated negatively. In addition, the number of board meetings has a positive relationship with the social responsibility disclosure whilst the companies' size is associated positively with that of environmental responsibility disclosure. This study presents initial empirical data investigating different types of disclosures and corporate characteristics which extend the scope of previous studies.