Corporate social responsibility disclosure and corporate governance: empirical insights on neo-institutional framework from China

Abstract

This study delves into an interesting nexus of corporate governance mechanism and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in the Chinese listed firms. This research edifies the prevailing literature by integration of neo-institutional theory and empirical examination of the impact of ownership structure and board characteristics on the “CSR disclosure score” for a longitudinal data of 1166 non-financial firms listed on Chinese stock exchanges for 8 years from 2008 to 2015. The empirical results based on panel data-generalised least squares estimations divulge that state ownership and block ownership are negative predictors of the CSR disclosure, while institutional ownership, board size and board composition positively affect CSR disclosure in Chinese listed firms. The results fail to find a significant impact of CEO duality on CSR disclosure. The empirical findings of this study suggest practical guidelines to policymakers, government and corporations in their drive against the CSR concerns.