The Impact of Corporate Characteristics on Social Responsibility and Environmental Disclosures in Turkish Listed Companies

Abstract

Corporate social reporting proposes several advantages to corporate entities of our time, for instance; it enhances an entity’s image and position, and it strengthens community relations, and legitimizes the entities of activities. This study seeks to explore the nature and extent of the corporate social and environmental reporting (CSER) practices of manufacturing companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. The study also examines the impact of the corporate characteristics on the CSER disclosures of these listed companies. The sample of the study consists of manufacturing companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) in 2010. The related data was collected by adopting content analysis of annual reports of the constituent companies. The relationship between the CSER disclosures with corporate characteristics was investigated with multiple regression analysis. The model includes a dependent variable (i.e. corporate social and environmental reporting index) and eight independent variables (i.e. firm size, profitability, leverage, auditor size, ownership structure, proportion of independent directors on board, listing age, and industry). The contribution of this paper to the literature is of great importance, because there is no prior study in Turkey that has dealt with the relationship between the firm characteristics and corporate social responsibility and environmental reporting disclosure level to this extent.