Corporate social and environmental reporting in the Caribbean

Anthony R. Bowrin

Social Responsibility Journal, 2013, vol. 9, issue 2, 259-280

Abstract: Purpose - This paper aims to examine the extent to which publicly‐listed Caribbean companies provide social and environmental disclosures (SED), and the factors related to their disclosure practices. It is motivated by the dearth of studies of SED among publicly listed Caribbean firms. Design/methodology/approach - All 55 companies with common shares listed on the main tier of one of the three major Caribbean stock exchanges in December 2010 were included in the study. The comprehensiveness of SED was measured using an unweighted 43‐item disclosure index. The research hypotheses were examined using multiple regression analysis. Findings - The level of SED in the Caribbean was relatively low (M=33.7 per cent, SD=25.3 per cent). The amount of SED was positively related to firm size, industry affiliation, foreign influence and organizational culture. Firm profitability, national culture, importance of public equity financing, gender diversity, and director independence were not statistically related to SED comprehensiveness. Practical implications - To promote the consideration of sustainability issues in national, corporate and individual investment and administration decisions, Caribbean governments may need to implement incentives for public companies to participate in targeted development initiatives and to provide more comprehensive social and environmental disclosures. Originality/value - This is the first study to examine the comprehensiveness and determinants of SED by publicly‐listed Caribbean companies.

Keywords: Social; Environmental; Caribbean; Barbados; Jamaica; Trinidad; Information disclosure; Annual reports (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:v:9:y:2013:i:2:p:259-280

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-08-2011-0074

Access Statistics for this article

Social Responsibility Journal is currently edited by Prof David Crowther

More articles in Social Responsibility Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().