Research on the Influential Factors of CSR Information Disclosure

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a much-discussed subject in the business world and a number of issues have arisen, such as CSR information disclosure. Why do firms voluntarily disclose information to external parties? Why do some firms choose to provide more extensive disclosures than do other firms? Are there some factors which influent the CSR information disclosure? In order to investigate the level of CSR information influenced by kinds of reasons, this paper aims to identify the factors that determine the disclosure level of CSR information and to give an empirical observation on Chinese listed companies. It turns out that the size, achievement and business are the main infective factors of information disclosure of CSR for listed companies. The variable force of Corporate Governance didn’t have remarkable effect on the information disclosure of CSR. This is mainly because that in the practical situation in china nowadays, the mechanism of the Listed Company Governance is still incomplete and doesn’t have enough influence on the information disclosure of CSR of listed companies. Especially the increase of the numbers of independent directors doesn’t have the power to restrict the actions of executive directors and to monitor the opportunistic behavior of the managers. Besides, the insufficient demand of the Social Responsibility Information from the pressure group also leads to the lack of desire to disclose the Social Responsibility Information for listed companies. The study also tells us that the information disclosure of CSR is still at the attempt and initiating stage, consequently the habit of providing and using the Social Responsibility Information has not been formed for enterprises and relevant stakeholders. The promotion of the information disclosure of CSR will still be the field of our further study in the future.