Country-specific institutional effects on non-financial disclosure level: Evidence from European listed banks

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between disclosure level of GRI-compliant non-financial statements, provided to conform with the Directive 2014/95/EU, and cross-country societal variables (Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, political and civil systems, legal system and level of economic development) of the European listed banks, using the political economic theory. It analyzes the banks listed in the stock markets of 18 European countries for 2016-2018. The data was collected from the BvD BankFocus database, selecting 134 bank-year observations. A disclosure index based on the GRI framework compliant to the Directive was determined to measure the non-financial reporting disclosure. The findings, partially consistent with the previous literature, show for the banks a significant negative influence of power distance, masculinity, indulgence, the legal system, and level of economic development on the non-financial disclosure. Moreover, the results evidence a significant positive association between individualism, long-term orientation, indulgence, and political and civil system on the non-financial disclosure level. This study contributes to the international debate on how the socio-cultural-economic institutional factors affect non-financial disclosure expectations in the banking sector. Furthermore, understanding the effect of cross-country societal factors on NFR disclosure under EUD might benefit managers when implementing social and environmental strategies in all socio-cultural institutional settings. It might help regulators and policy-makers when adopting new legislation and making reforms dealing with social and environmental laws.