Issues in Social and Environmental Reporting in Developing Countries

Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting
Vol. 4, No. 1 June 2010
Pp 3-17

An Overview of Corporate Social and
Environmental Reporting (CSER)
in Developing Countries
Mohammad Badrul Haider
Department of Accounting & Information Systems
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Graduate School of Business Administration
Kobe University, Japan

Abstract

This article is intended to complement the literature reviews on corporate social and environ-
mental reporting (CSER) with special focus on the developing countries. It focuses on the fac-
tors influencing CSER and their theoretical interpretations. It is found that a wide variety of
factors related with the socio-economic and political context in which the corporation exist
influence the corporate decision to engage in CSER. While a number of overlapping theories
can be used, it is recommended to use the political economy theory for its international implica-
tions. This article provides a foundation for future research and development in the area of
CSER.

Keywords: Corporate social and environmental reporting (CSER), developing countries, le-
gitimacy theory, political economy theory (PET)

1. Introduction and the like” (Gray, et al. 2001: 329).
The origin of the CSER is largely linked
CSER can broadly be defined as with the dawn of the modern corporation
“comprising information relating to a (Bhur, 2007: 59). However, more sys-
corporation's activities, aspirations and tematic and standardized systems of
public image with regard to environ- CSER only really emerged in the late-
mental, community, employee and con- 1980s and early-1990s (World Bank,
sumer issues. Within these headings will 2004: 11). Bhur (2007: 59) observes the
be subsumed other, more detailed, mat- historical development of CSER and
ters such as energy usage, equal oppor- concludes that the development of
tunities, fair trade, corporate governance CSER is following a slow process which

Mohammad Badrul Haider is an Assistant Professor at Department of Accounting & Information Systems University
of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is at present- Doctoral Student at Graduate School of Business Administration Kobe Univer-
sity, Japan, email: haider@stu.kobe-u.ac.jp, opuaccdu@yahoo.com. Acknowledgement: The author is very much
grateful to Professor Katsuhiko Kokubu of Kobe University for his directions and suggestions on the draft of this paper.
Comments from the participants in the 2nd International Conference on Governance Fraud Ethics and Social Responsi-
bility, June 9-14, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey are also gratefully acknowledged.

4 M. B. Haider / Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting 1 (2010) 3-17

begins ‘with employee reporting and nants and theoretical interpretation of
then moves on to social reporting, envi- CSER in the developing economics.
ronmental reporting, triple bottom line Similar to their developed counterparts,
reporting and eventually, and ideally, corporations in developing countries are
sustainability reporting’. also making CSER, although low in vol-
ume. It is important here to understand
Though the issue of CSER got immense why corporations are making these dis-
popularity from the academicians and closures voluntarily. Understanding
researchers over the last few decades, a these factors is important to assess the
very few studies are done from the con- extensiveness, completeness, quantity
text of developing countries (Tsang, and quality of such disclosures. Based
1998; Belal, 2001; Islam and Deegan, on the factors identified in objective one
2008). Most of the empirical studies are the second objective focuses on the theo-
done in the industrialized countries of retical explanations in order to provide a
Western Europe, the USA, Australia, coherent and systematic framework for
and Japan. (see Mathews, 1997; Gray et investigating, understanding and devel-
al., 1995; Deegan, 2002, for an overview oping CSER. These two aspects may
of the studies). Since the stage of eco- provide a foundation for future research
nomic development along with cultural and development in this area.
and other national differences have
strong influence on CSER, so it would
be dangerous to generalize the results of 2. CSER in the developing countries
studies on developed nations to newly
develop and developing countries CSER is very low, general and descrip-
(Tsang, 1998: 624). However, research tive in nature in the developing countries
in the developing country also improves (Imam, 2000; Belal, 2001; Ahmad and
specially during the last decade. Some Sulaiman, 2002; Gunawan, 2007; Mir-
notable studies were carried out in the fazli, 2008). However, increasing trend
context of Malaysia, Thailand, China, is observed in many countries (Tsang,
Singapore, Bangladesh, Middle eastern 1998; Ratanajongkol et al., 2006; UNC-
countries, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, TAD, 2008). Disclosures are voluntary
(See Belal and Momin, 2009 for re- and mainly done through corporate an-
view). nual reports, primarily in the chairman’s
report or director’s report (Haron et al.
The objective of this paper is to review 2004; Imam, 2000). To improve corpo-
the literature of CSER in the developing rate reputation and image, manage pow-
countries. International reviews by Gray erful stakeholders, sustain competitive
et al. (1995), Gray (2002), Deegan advantages and legitimate the corporate
(2002), and Parker (2005) give historical activities to the society are some of the
development and comprehensive expla- reasons for CSER (Tee et al., 2007;
nation of CSER. However, these studies Tsang, 1998; Belal and Owen, 2007).
focus mainly on the developed econom- Reasons for non disclosure are absence
ics. This article is intended to comple- of legal requirements, lack of stake-
ment these reviews with special focus on holders’ demand, high costs than bene-
the developing economics. It emphasizes fits, attitude for secrecy, competitors
on two aspects: identifying the determi- poor performance, non consideration in

M. B. Haider / Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting 1 (2010) 3-17 5

performance measurement, poor per- Interestingly Foo and Tan (1988) and
formance and fear of bad publicity (for Andrew et al. (1989) demonstrate bank-
details see Belal, 2007; Rowe and Guth- ing and finance sector have the highest
rie, 2007). CSER in Singapore. Again Gunawan
(2007) in Indonesia finds no relation
2.1. Factors influencing CSER between industry type, age, creditors and
auditors with extent of CSER but find
Several studies identify the factors deter- some relations with return on asset and
mining the CSER in different countries. owners. Liu and Anbumozhi (2009) in
Adams (2002) categories these factors in China show return on asset and financial
three groups: corporate characteristics, leverage are weak in explaining the dis-
general contextual factors and internal closure.
contextual factors.
Rashid & Lodh (2008) from Bangladesh
2.1.1. Corporate characteristics and find an insignificant influence of owner-
CSER: Researchers in different coun- ship structure but a significant influence
tries examine the relationship between of board composition on the CSER in
the CSER and different corporate char- Bangladesh. Haniffa & Cook (2005) in
acteristics such as company size, owner- Malaysian perspective examine the asso-
ship pattern, company type, financial ciation between CSER and corporate
performances, board composition, influ- governance as measured by proportion
ence of creditors, multiple exchange list- of non-executive directors in the board,
ing, corporate age etc. However, the re- chairman with multiple directorships and
sults are inconclusive. proportion of foreign shareholders. Their
results indicate a significant relationship
Hossain and Reaz (2007) from Indian between CSER and boards dominated by
perspective find that size and assets in- executive directors, chair with multiple
place are significant and other variables directorships and foreign share owner-
such as age, diversification, board com- ship (p.391).
position, multiple exchange listing and
complexity of business are insignificant, 2.1.2. General contextual factors: Gen-
can’t explain the level of disclosure. eral contextual factors include country
Company size and disclosures are also of origin, culture, political and civil sys-
positively related in Foo and Tan (1988); tem, legal system, level of economic
Andrew et al. (1989); Gao et al. (2005); development, equity market, time spe-
Naser, et al. (2006); Liu and Anbumozhi cific events, media pressure, stake-
(2009) studies in Malaysia, Singapore, holders etc. (Adams, 2002: 224). Al-
Hong Kong, Qatar and China respec- though a good number of studies relate
tively. With regard to the industry af- general contextual factors and disclo-
filiation Singh and Ahuja (1983) in In- sures but as noted by Adams (2002: 226)
dia, Liu and Anbumozhi (2009) in these factors are complex because of
China, Gao et al. (2005) in Hong Kong, their interrelationships. Some of the gen-
Ahmad and Sulaiman (2002) in Malay- eral contextual factors are discussed be-
sia, Mirfazli (2008b) in Indonesia, all low:
show positive relationship between envi- (a) Country of origin: The existing lit-
ronmental sensitivity and disclosures. erature notes the importance of country


of origin as a determinant of CSER and as Guanxi, trust and secrecy) of China
significant variations in practices across for environmental disclosures is ex-
national boundaries (Williams, 1999; plained by Rowe and Guthrie (2007).
and for reference of all studies see Ad-
ams, 2002; Newson and Deegan, 2002). Religion as a cultural input also has in-
Newson and Deegan (2002: 183) for fluence on accounting disclosures
example in their international compara- (Hamid, et al., 1993). Al-Akra, et al.
tive study on Australia, Singapore and (2009) discuss how Islam (religion),
Korea conclude that “consistent with which encourages transparency and pro-
previous research, country of origin and hibits the hiding of information from
industry of operation appear to signifi- shareholders or regulators influence the
cantly influence disclosure practices”. accounting and disclosure pattern in Jor-
Williams (1999) in his study on seven dan. Similarly Kamla (2007) talks about
Asia Pacific countries finds the same the significance of religion in the nine
conclusion. Arab countries and shows how Islam
embraces the CSER. All the disclosure
(b) Culture and religion: Although a dimensions and even the writing styles
relatively recent area of study, culture in these countries are significantly influ-
provides a possible explanation for many enced by Islamic Sharia or Holy Quran.
of the differences in reporting practices
(Mathews, 1993: 120). Violet (1983: 8; (d) Economic development: The level
cited in Deegan and Unerman, 2006) of economic development of a country
argues that accounting can’t be isolated also has influence on the disclosure pat-
from culture and like other human be- tern. But the results of the empirical
ings and social institutions it is culturally studies are mixed with Adhikari and
determined, so cultural customs, beliefs, Tondkar (1992) and Ahmed (1995) find
and institutions influence it. no relation where as Cooke and Wallace
(1990), Doupnik and Salter (1995) and
Hofstede (1980) and Gray’s (1988) mod- Salter (1998) indicate economic context
els on culture are used by different stud- as important explanation for accounting
ies (such as Zarzeski, 1996; Perera, variation. Companies in the developed
1989; Baydoun and Willett, 1995) to countries have greater social pressure for
explain the disclosure pattern in different higher level of CSER as greater eco-
countries. However, from the developing nomic development will be accompanied
country perspective Williams (1999) by a growth in the number and strength
shows two cultural dimensions uncer- of pressure and monitoring groups.
tainty avoidance and masculinity related Coulter (2001) shows that 42% of con-
with the CSER in the seven Asia Pacific sumers in North America would punish
countries. Haniffa and Cook (2005) ex- socially irresponsible companies
amine the association between CSER (through product boycotts or bad-
and culture as measured by directors’ mouthing) where as only 8% of consum-
and shareholders’ ethnicity. Their results ers in Asia. But Williams (1999) in his
indicate a significant relationship be- study on seven Asia Pacific countries
tween CSER and boards dominated by find no relation between these two vari-
Malay directors. The significance of in- ables.
formal institutional cultural norms (such


(e) Politics and government: Perhaps (f) Colonization and MNCs: Studies in
the relationship between politics and developing countries also show the in-
government with the CSER is best ex- fluence of colonization on the account-
plained by de Villiers and Staden (2006) ing and reporting practices (see Wallace,
in their study on South Africa. During 1993; Briston, 1990; Chand, 2005;
early 1990s the government (African Kamla, 2007; Al-Akra et al. 2009; Ash-
National Congress) had the nationaliza- raf and Ghani, 2005). Ball et al. (2003:
tion policy and emphasized on environ- 238-240) describe that not only the ac-
mental issues as reflected in their elec- counting and reporting system but also
tion manifesto for 1994. By 1999 unem- the accounting education in Hong Kong,
ployment, high incidence of HIV/AIDS Singapore, Malaysia are highly influ-
and related social problems such as ence by the UK system having being a
crime became the most important social colony for a long period of time. In
issues. Consequently ANC addressed Bangladesh and Pakistan, British Com-
these issues rather than natural environ- panies Act were in force long after their
ment as shown in their manifesto in independence (Ashraf and Ghani, 2005;
1999. Consistent with this political and Akhtaruddin, 2005). Evidence also
government agenda environmental dis- shows that most of the former colonies
closure in South Africa decreased after of France such as Lebanon, Algeria, Tu-
an initial period of increase (de Villiers nisia, Morocco, have adopted French
and van Staden, 2006: 763). Williams accounting system (Wallace, 1990; Bay-
(1999) also finds political and civil sys- doun and Gray, 1990; Hagigi and Wil-
tem as an explanatory variable for CSER liams, 1993). Kamla (2007: 151) also
in seven Asia Pacific countries. Corpora- observes the dominant role of Western
tions from Arabian countries are seen to accounting models in the nine Arab
disclose information supporting govern- countries despite increased interest in
ment policies and objectives (Kamla, Islamic accounting.
2007: 150). Amran and Devi (2008:
386) from Malaysia conclude that Multinational corporations, international
“institutionalization of the government’s lending institutions such as World Bank
aspirations and commitment to CSR is or IMF and organizations like ILO, UNI-
perhaps the most appropriate description CEF play a vital role in shaping the
for Malaysian CSR practice”. CSER practices in the developing coun-
tries. Islam and Deegan (2008) and Belal
Recently government and stock ex- and Owen (2007) examine the role of
changes in some countries particularly international buyers and parent compa-
Malaysia, South Africa and Brazil take nies on the CSER of Bangladesh. Raha-
some initiatives to improve the perform- man et al. (2004) from Ghana argues
ance of CSER. Lydenberg and Grace that compliance with the institutional
(2008) observe that CSER improve sig- requirements of funding agencies such
nificantly after the government and as World Bank is the major influence on
stock exchanges initiatives. However, environmental reporting of Volta River
Belal (2007) emphasizes on the enforce- Authority.
ment of laws to bring the required
changes in CSER in Bangladesh. (g) Legal systems: Accounting literature
also recognizes the legal systems such as


Common Law and Code Law for differ- 3. Theoretical interpretations of
ences in accounting practices in different CSER in developing countries
countries (Ashraf and Ghani, 2005). In
most of the Anglo-American accounting Most of the studies in the developing
system (which is based on common law countries are descriptive and quantitative
such as in US, Canada, UK, Australia, explaining the nature, extent and volume
New Zealand and their former colonies) of CSER without theoretical explana-
CSER is voluntary. In contrast, conti- tion. Recently some studies have started
nental European countries (France, Ger- to explain the disclosure from socio-
many, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and economic and political context using
their former colonies based on code law) different theoretical perspectives. There
have legislations governing the CSER is no significant difference between the
(Mathews, 1993: 128). However, Wil- developed and developing countries with
liams (1999) in his empirical test on respect to theoretical explanation of
seven Asia Pacific countries finds no CSER. Similar to developed countries
relationship between CSER and legal political economy, stakeholder and le-
system of these countries. gitimacy theories are mostly used by the
researchers in the developing countries.
2.2.3. Internal contextual factors: Islam and Deegan (2008) observe that
Internal context includes the process of the pressure from the international buy-
reporting and attitudes of internal people ers on the garments industry in Bangla-
which may influence the CSER (Adams, desh shaped the CSER pattern in
2002). Some of the internal contextual BGMEA. They explain the findings us-
factors are leadership attitudes, corpo- ing legitimacy, stakeholder and institu-
rate governance system, social reporting tional theory by arguing that “a joint
committee, stakeholders’ engagement, consideration of the three theories pro-
cost and benefits of reporting, corporate vides a richer basis for understanding
culture etc. Teoh and Thong (1984) from and explaining the reporting behavior
Malaysia and Rahaman (2000) from rather than a particular theory alone” (p.
Ghana recognize the top management 856). From the Malaysian perspective
philosophy as one of the most important Amran and Devi (2008) explain the role
factors for corporate social awareness. of government on the CSER through
Some studies (such as Lodhia, 2003; institutional theory.
Kuasirikun 2005; Jaggi and Zhao, 1996)
examine the perceptions of the account- Kamla (2007) uses post colonial theo-
ants on CSER. Lack of competence of retical perspective to show the influence
accountants in CSER in Fiji is identified of history and culture on the CSER pat-
by Lodhia (2003). Kuasirikun (2005) tern of the nine Arab Middle Eastern
observes an overall positive attitude of countries. Similarly CSER in response to
accounting professionals towards CSER the pressure from social, political and
in Thailand which she believes due to economic systems are explained through
transformation in the nature of the Thai the bourgeois political economy theory
accounting profession. by Williams (1999) in his international


comparative study on seven Asia Pacific most appropriate theory to explain why
countries. corporations respond to social demand
for disclosure on their social and envi-
de Villiers & van Staden (2006) from ronmental performances as it empha-
South Africa argue that legitimacy the- sizes the political, economic, cultural,
ory can be used to explain the decreas- social and institutional framework, in
ing trend in environmental disclosure which the organizations operate. PET
whereas most of the studies on legiti- considers accounting reports as a proac-
macy theory show legitimacy can be tive document (Amran and Devi, 2007)
achieved either by maintaining or infor constructing, maintaining and legiti-
creasing disclosure. Agency theory and mizing economic and political arrange-
legitimacy theory are used by Haron et ments, institutions, and ideologies which
al. (2004) to explain the increasing dis- contribute to the business’s self interest
closure in the recession period compare (Guthrie and Parker, 1990).
to pre and post recession periods. They
opine that reducing the agency cost and CSER in most of the developing coun-
increasing the public confidence are the tries is poor, providing only favorable
main reasons for more disclosure (p. 18). information making the reporting as
Tsang (1998) also embraces legitimacy marketing or public relation manage-
theory to analyze the CSER in Singa- ment vehicle. PET can also be used to
pore. explain this poor or non disclosure
(Guthrie & Parker, 1989; Adams et al.,
3. 1. Selection of the theory for devel- 1995). It argues that the company delib-
oping countries erately will not disclose the information
where they believe that disclosure is not
The most important as well as difficult consistent with business self interest
task in CSER research is the choice of (Guthrie & Parker, 1989; Adams et al.,
the theory to explain the disclosure as it 1995). As Guthrie and Parker (1990:
is complex and can’t fully explained by 170) state that “nondisclosure then, is
a particular theory or single level of just as potent a means of mediation and
resolution (Gray et al. 1995). As dis- mystification as selected disclosure”.
cussed above most of the existing litera- Similarly when disclosures are made
ture uses legitimacy, stakeholder or po- these are mainly related to their positive
litical economy theory, considering the contribution to the society thereby im-
broader socio-political perspective of proving the image, legitimize the activi-
CSER. The choice of alternative theory ties and managing the society in order to
should be based on the factors that deter- protect corporation’s self interest. For
mine the corporate decision to engage in example, Teoh and Thong (1984) from
CSER. Section two discusses a wide Malaysian explain that due to direct rela-
variety of these internal and external tionship with profitability disclosure in
factors. There are variations among the human resources and product/service to
developing countries in terms of socio- customers categories are higher than
economic, political and cultural structure community involvement and physical
(Williams and Pei, 1999) and all these environment which are only remotely
factors affect the decision for CSER. related to profitability.
Political economy theory (PET) is the


Although most of the studies utilize the tions in the economy due to the manifest
content analysis instruments used in the inability of the local government to sat-
developed countries (Ernst and Ernst isfy the economic needs of the modern
1978, Gray et al., 1995) but the issues world (Gilpin, 1976). It also argues that
recorded under each category are quite economics should determine politics
different in the developing countries. For (Gilpin, 1976: 186-87). Consistent with
example, Islam and Deegan (2008) in- this argument and rather than preferring
clude additional sub categories such as a critical perspective (such as Kamla,
child labor elimination, women employ- 2007) it is believed that corporations in
ment and empowerment and other hu- the developing countries use CSER as a
man right issues to the human resource tool to legitimize their performance and
category. The issue community poverty manage these powerful stakeholders
alleviation is added to the community which are important for their existence
involvement category. Similarly Kamla and survival, a view supported by the
(2007) also added cultural and religion bourgeois political economy theory.
dimensions in her research instrument
for seven Arab Middle Eastern countries.
These show how the broader socio po- 4. Conclusion
litical environment affects the disclosure
categories used by the corporations. CSER as well as research on CSER in
the developing countries are still in its
PET also recognizes the role of the gov- nascent stage compare to develop
ernment in the economy. Government though improvements have made in
intervention is particularly advantageous many countries especially in the last
in the face of market failures such as decade. This literature survey is based
imperfect competition, externalities, in- on the developing countries where em-
stability, inequality and socially undesir- phasis is given on the factors and the
able outcomes (Clark, 1991; cited in philosophical explanation for CSER. A
Williams and Pei, 1999: 395). A number wide variety of factors influence the cor-
of studies (Tsang, 1998; Amran and porate decision to engage in CSER.
Devi, 2008) demonstrate the influence of These factors are elaborately discussed
government or other regulatory bodies in section two in three categories given
on CSER in the developing countries. by Adams (2002).

PET can also be used to explain the cul- From the limited number of studies in
tural dimension of CSER in the develop- different countries at different times
ing countries as Best and Paterson generalization with respect to the rela-
(2009) opine that “global political econ- tionship between corporate characteris-
omy is inescapably cultural”. Culture tics and CSER is difficult. However,
constitutes political economy by shaping company size is positively related in all
the individual behavior, economic insti- the studies in the developing countries
tutions, legal system, actors, and the except Singh and Ahuja (1983), a find-
processes. ing similar to developed country
(Adams, 2002).
Political economy recognizes the domi-
nant role of the multinational corpora- As expected a large number of factors


are identified under the general contex- tives especially from the variations of
tual category as it relates the CSER with the PET such as legitimacy, stakeholder
the socio-economic and political per- or institutional theory as they provide
spectives. Some of these factors are complementary perspectives and overlap
unique to the developing countries such each other (Deegan, 2002). Similarly in
as past colonial experience, role of mul- order to explain multiplicity of the
tinational corporations and lending insti- CSER it is also possible to use the multi-
tutions, culture and religion. These fac- ple theoretical lenses which are also
tors are deeply rooted in the social, po- used by some studies in the developing
litical, economic, legal, education sys- countries (Islam and Deegan, 2008). Fi-
tem in most of the developing countries nally whatever the theory the researcher
that special emphasis must be given adopts, it should be based on the broader
when examining the CSER practices in socio-economic and political aspect in
these countries. which the company exists and the dis-
closures are made.
Studies have just started to explore the
internal contextual factors of CSER.
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