DOES THE INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT AFFECT CSR DISCLOSURE? THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE

RODRÍGUEZ, MARÍA DEL MAR MIRAS; PÉREZ, BERNABÉ ESCOBAR

doi:10.1590/S0034-759020160606

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Revista de Administração de Empresas

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ARTICLES • Rev. adm. empres. 56 (6) • Nov-Dec 2016 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-759020160606 copy

DOES THE INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT AFFECT CSR DISCLOSURE? THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE

Há Influência do ambiente institucional nas práticas de divulgação de RSC? O papel da governança

¿El entorno institucional influye en las prácticas de revelación de información de la RSC? El papel del Gobierno Corporativo

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to analyze whether the institutional environment has a direct effect on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting practices or if this effect is explained by the influence of the institutional environment on Corporate Governance (CG) mechanisms. To conduct our study, we focused on two countries that reflect different types of institutional environment: relation-based (Brazil) and rule-based (Spain). Based on our results, we can affirm that the institutional environment influences CG mechanisms (Board Size and Reference Shareholder) as well as companies' CSR disclosure. Additionally, the CG mechanisms affected by the institutional environment also help to explain differences in CSR reporting practices. As relation-based societies evolve into rules-based environments, the information disclosed about CSR becomes more complex due to a strengthening of CG mechanisms.

KEYWORDS
Corporate governance; disclosure; corporate social responsibility; institutional environment; ownership structure

Corporate governance characteristics	Brazil	Spain
board size	Between 5 and 11	Between 5 and 15
Independent directors	Most should be independent	At least more than 33%
Board activity	It is suggested that the frequency of meetings should not exceed one per month	No recommendation
CSR Committee	Suggested, although not further elaborated	No recommendation

	Variable	Measurement	Source
Dependent variable	CSR index	(1) CSR information in a report	Gray, Kouhy, & Lavers (1995)Gray, R. H., Kouhy, R., & Lavers, S. (1995). Constructing a research database of social and environmental reporting by UK companies. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 8(2), 78-101. doi:10.1108/09513579510086812 https://doi.org/10.1108/0951357951008681...
		(2) GRI adoption level	Adams (2002)Adams, C. A. (2002). Internal organizational factors influencing corporate social and ethical reporting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 15(2), 223-250. doi:10.1108/09513570210418905 https://doi.org/10.1108/0951357021041890... , Boiral (2013)Boiral, O. (2013). Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(7), 1036-1071. doi:10.1108/AAAJ-04-2012-00998 https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2012-009...
		(3) Externally checked	Prado, Gallego, & García (2009)Prado, J. M., & García, I. M. (2010). The role of the board of directors in disseminating relevant information on greenhouse gases. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(3), 391-424. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0515-0 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0515-... , Fernández, Romero, & Ruiz (2012)Fernández, B., Romero, S., & Ruiz, S. (2012). Measuring quality of sustainability reports and assurance statements: Characteristics of the high quality reporting companies. International Journal of Society Systems Science, 4(1), 5-27. doi:10.1504/ijsss.2012.045371 https://doi.org/10.1504/ijsss.2012.04537...
		(4) Assurance of the CSR report	Simnett, Vanstraelen, & Chua (2009)Simnett, R., Vanstraelen, A., & Chua, W. F. (2009). Assurance on sustainability reports: An international comparison. The Accounting Review, 84(3), 937-967. doi:10.2308/accr.2009.84.3.937 https://doi.org/10.2308/accr.2009.84.3.9... , Fernández, Romero, & Ruiz (2014)Fernández, B., Romero, S., & Ruiz, S. (2014). Effect of stakeholders' pressure on transparency of sustainability reports within the GRI framework. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), 53-63. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1748-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1748-...
Corporate governance	Board size	Number of directors	De Andrés et al. (2005)Andrés, P. De, Azofra, V., & Lopez, F. (2005). Corporate boards in OECD countries: Size, composition, functioning and effectiveness. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 13(2), 197-210. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8683.2005.00418.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2005... ; García et al. (2011)García, I. M., Rodríguez, L., & Gallego, I. (2011). Corporate governance and strategic information on the internet. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 24(4), 471-501. doi:10.1108/09513571111133063 https://doi.org/10.1108/0951357111113306...
	Independent directors	Percentage of independent directors	Haniffa & Cooke (2005)Haniffa, R. M., & Cooke, T. E. (2005). The impact of culture and governance on corporate social reporting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 24(5), 391-430. doi:10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2005.06.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.200... ; Prado & García (2010)Prado, J. M., & García, I. M. (2010). The role of the board of directors in disseminating relevant information on greenhouse gases. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(3), 391-424. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0515-0 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0515-...
	Board activity	Number of board meetings	Rodríguez et al. (2014)Rodríguez, L., Frías, J. V., & García, R. (2014). El consejo de administración y las memorias de sostenibilidad. Revista de Contabilidad- Spanish Accounting Review, 17(1), 5-16. doi:10.1016/j.rcsar.2013.02.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcsar.2013.02....
	CSR committee	Existence of a CSR committee. Dummy variable. Indicator variable is one if there is a CSR committee and zero otherwise	Michelon & Parbonetti (2012)Michelon, G., & Parbonetti, A. (2012). The effect of corporate governance on sustainability disclosure. Journal of Management and Governance, 16(3), 477-509. doi:10.1007/s10997-010-9160-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-010-9160-... ; Amran et al. (2014)Amran, A., Lee, S. P., & Devi, S. S. (2014). The influence of governance structure and strategic corporate social responsibility toward sustainability reporting quality. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23(4), 217-235. doi:10.1002/bse.1767 https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1767...
	Reference shareholder	If the company is owned by a reference shareholder who has the majority of voting rights, veto power or golden share. Dummy variable. Indicator variable is one if there is a reference shareholder and zero otherwise	Miras et al. (2014)Miras, M. M., Escobar, B., & Carrasco, A. (2014). Are Spanish listed firms betting on CSR during the crisis? Evidence from the agency problem. Business and Management Research, 3(1), 85-95. doi:10.5430/bmr.v3n1p85 https://doi.org/10.5430/bmr.v3n1p85...
Control	Company size	Logarithm of total assets	Said, Zainuddin, & Haron (2009)Said, R., Zainuddin, Y. H., & Haron, H. (2009). The relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure and corporate governance characteristics in Malaysian public listed companies. Social Responsibility Journal, 5(2), 212-226. doi:10.1108/17471110910964496 https://doi.org/10.1108/1747111091096449... , Amran, Lee, & Devi (2014)Amran, A., Lee, S. P., & Devi, S. S. (2014). The influence of governance structure and strategic corporate social responsibility toward sustainability reporting quality. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23(4), 217-235. doi:10.1002/bse.1767 https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1767...
	Profitability	ROA	Michelon & Parbonetti (2012)Michelon, G., & Parbonetti, A. (2012). The effect of corporate governance on sustainability disclosure. Journal of Management and Governance, 16(3), 477-509. doi:10.1007/s10997-010-9160-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-010-9160-... Rodríguez et al. (2014)Rodríguez, L., Frías, J. V., & García, R. (2014). El consejo de administración y las memorias de sostenibilidad. Revista de Contabilidad- Spanish Accounting Review, 17(1), 5-16. doi:10.1016/j.rcsar.2013.02.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcsar.2013.02....
	Industry	Industry	ASSET4 data

Industries	Brazil	Spain
Aerospace and defense	1.2
Alternative energy	1.2	4.9
Banks	6.0	14.6
Chemicals	1.2
Construction and materials	2.4	7.3
Electricity	14.3	9.8
Electronic and electrical equipment	1.2
Financial services	6.0	4.9
Fixed line telecommunications	2.4	2.4
Food and drug retailers	2.4	2.4
Food producers	7.1	4.9
Forestry and paper	2.4
Gas, water and multi-utilities	3.6	4.9
General industrials	1.2
General retailers	7.1	2.4
Health care equipment and services	2.4
Household goods and home construction	2.4
Industrial engineering	1.2	2.4
Industrial metals and mining	6.0	2.4
Industrial transportation	4.8	2.4
Media	1.2	7.3
Mining	1.2
Mobile telecommunications	1.2
Nonlife insurance	3.6	2.4
Oil and gas producers	3.6	2.4
Oil equipment and services		2.4
Personal goods	2.4
Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology		7.3
Real estate investment and services	7.1	2.4
Software and computer services	1.2	2.4
Support services		4.9
Tobacco	1.2
Travel and leisure	1.2	2.4
Total	100.0	100.0

	Spain			Brazil
	N	Mean	Standard deviation	N	Mean	Standard deviation
CSR index	41	2.78	1.60	84	2.06	1.65
CSR information disclosure	41	0.82	0.38	84	0.70	0.46
GRI level	41	0.71	0.46	84	0.58	0.49
Externally checked	41	0.63	0.49	84	0.42	0.49
Assurance	41	0.61	0.49	84	0.36	0.48
Board size	41	14.05	3.47	84	9.38	2.53
Independent members (%)	40	30.30	23.09	67	25.66	21.96
BD activity	38	10.79	3.67	39	15.21	13.59
CSR committee	41	0.78	0.42	84	0.69	0.47
Reference shareholder	41	0.27	0.44	84	0.48	0.50
ROA	41	4.72	9.68	84	6.38	7.91
Company size	41	80008608.05	218109043.63	84	71921260.05	199570754.21

Corporate Governance characteristics	Test of mean differences
Board size	55.38^ < 0.005,
Independent directors	52.99
Board activity	19.33
CSR committee	1.60
Reference shareholder	6.16^* * <0.05

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)
(1) CSR index	1
(2) Board size	0.36^ < 0.01	1
(3) Independent members	-0.05	-0.05	1
(4) BD activity	0.21	-0.12	-0.03	1
(5) CSR committee	0.55^ < 0.01	0.27^ < 0.01	-0.04	0.16	1
(6) Reference shareholder	0.27^ < 0.01	0.00	-0.27^ < 0.01	0.013	0.07	1
(7) Institutional environment	0.19^* * < 0.05	0.63^ < 0.01	0.12	-0.23^* * < 0.05	0.11	-0.22^* * < 0.05	1
(8) Company size	0.30^ < 0.01	0.09	0.02	0.35^ < 0.01	0.18^* * < 0.05	0.12	0.01	1
(9) ROA	0.05	-0.16	0.05	-0.09	-0.04	0.15	-0.09	-0.14	1

	Brazil			Spain
	Coefficient estimation	Standard deviation	Wald	Coefficient estimation	Standard deviation	Wald
Company size	2.07	0.46	19.95^ < 0.005,	-0.90	0.73	1.53
ROA	0.96	0.05	*4.62^ * <0.05**	0.47	0.24	*3.87^ * <0.05**
Industry	controlled			controlled
-2 log likelihood	157.71			42.51
X²	97.51^ < 0.005,			54.39^ < 0.005,
Pseudo R² Cox & Snell	0.69			0.74

	CSR Index
	Model 1			Model 2			Model 3
	Coefficient estimation	Standard deviation	Wald	Coefficient estimation	Standard deviation	Wald	Coefficient estimation	Standard deviation	Wald
Board size				0.33	0.16	4.42^† † <0.1	0.11	0.22	0.25
Independent directors				0.02	0.02	1.18	0.01	0.02	0.52
Board activity				-0.16	0.11	2.02	-0.17	0.12	2.26
CSR committee				1.52	1.10	1.94	1.79	1.16	2.41
Reference shareholder				1.98	1.06	*3.50^ * <0.05,**	2.52	1.17	*4.62^ * <0.05,**
Institutional environment	-1.86	0.53	12.11^ < 0.005,				-2.07	1.49	1.91
Company size	1.21	0.23	26.96^ < 0.005,	2.03	0.58	12.33 ^ < 0.005,	2.19	0.65	11.35^ < 0.005,
ROA	0.09	0.03	*6.21^ * <0.05,**	0.30	0.13	5.62 ^* * <0.05,	0.29	0.13	*5.30^ * <0.05,**
Industry	controlled			controlled				controlled
-2 log likelihood	261.38			91.95			89.85
X²	103.52^ < 0.005,			83.74^ < 0.005,			85.84^ < 0.005,
Pseudo R² Cox & Snell	0.56			0.70			0.71

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[TFN1] Source: Codes of Good Governance of Spain and Brazil.