By Nazahah Abdul Rahim (2016)
In order to promote confidence and encourage investors to invest, companies have to meet stakeholder’s demand, for greater speed and volume, of transparent and timely financial, as well as nonfinancial information. The use of online CSR disclosure needs to be fully employed to provide better and more effective ways of communication, which is very significant in today’s era of information technology. However, the online CSR disclosure is still under-utilized and the disclosures are mostly made at company leader’s discretion, whereby they can choose how much disclosure and where to disclose the information, which has created new challenges for them.
For this reason, the study took a wide-ranging approach in determining the extent of online CSR disclosure in Malaysia, and how this practice may have been affected by leaders and their leadership components. This study was distinctive in its combination of methods and approaches. It employed three different data collection methods, namely, a quantitative index-based method, online questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews, gaining a rich perspective on the role of leaders and the influence of leadership which affected online CSR disclosures.
This study revealed that top leaders and company’s management play a big role in determining the extent of online CSR disclosures. Nevertheless, improvements should be made to consolidate this into a unified measure, thus improving the existing practice of online CSR disclosures.
Related publications:
- Abd Rahim, N. (2016). Assessing the influence of ethical leadership behaviors, leadership styles and leader roles as determinants of online corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in Malaysia. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Gloucestershire, UK.
- Rahim, N. A. (2015). Uncovering the role of ethical leadership in online corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Malaysia. Proceedings of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Conference, Manchester, UK.
- Rahim, N. A. & Biggs, D. (2014). CSR and sustainability: An investigation into the practice of online CSR initiatives by secondary market listed companies in Malaysia. In S. Alin & G. F. Georgina (Eds.), Social responsibility, ethics and sustainable business: Theory and practice (pp. 17-29). Bucharest: ASE Publishing Hall.
