Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Corporate Governance in Malaysian Listed Firms

Abstract

The goal of this study is to assess whether there has been a change in the degree of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and whether corporate governance qualities impact CSR disclosure in Malaysian listed businesses' corporate annual reports. The annual reports of 91 Bursa Malaysia-listed firms were analysed using qualitative content analysis during an eight-year period (2014-2021). Regression analysis was used to discover parameters impacting CSR disclosure in annual reports. The regression analysis found that the availability of external auditors and board independence were linearly and statistically linked with the level of CSR disclosure, as expected. The regression model yielded an R2 of 81.34 percent, indicating that the CSR scoring measures explain for about 81 percent of the variance in corporate governance score, with the remaining 19 percent caused or influenced by other variables. This article is one of the few studies that investigate CSR disclosure and corporate governance qualities among Malaysia-listed firms following the government's adoption of many new CSR initiatives over the last decade.