Through the juxtaposition of political economy theory and an in-depth
empirical analysis, this study provides hrther insights into the understanding
of variables that explain variations in voluntary environmental and social
accounting disclosures (VESAD) across national and regional boundaries.
Factors from three classes of Thomas (1991) classification schema, the
organizational attribute (organizational size and economic performance),
business environment (industry type) and societal variable (culture, political
and civil, system, legal system, level of economic development and equity
market) categories, were included in this project.
Listed companies' annual reports were surveyed using content analysis and
disclosure index from seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Australia,
Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The dependent variable, the extent of VESAD information, was measured by
four different measurement bases; these were number pages, sentences and
words and disclosure index score. Different measurement bases were used to
compare and contrast findings from statistical tests to examine if this lead to
conflicting or comparable conclusions.
Descriptive and univariate analysis indicated that under all four measurement
bases the country of origin was an important determinant of VESAD practices
in the Asia-Pacific region. Multiple regression and path analysis showed that
organizational size, industry type, culture, political and civil, and legal systems
were statistically significant in explaining variations both directly and
indirectly. The level of economic development was also found to be of
important but only indirectly. It is concluded from these findings that social
and political pressures placed on companies by the interaction of these
significant variables compel firms to provide VESAD information to meet
social expectations and to avoid possible government regulation to preserve
their own self interests and survival. Economic performance and equity market
factors were of no significant statistical influence.
Empirical results using data measured by the three units of measurement for
content analysis were minimal. Differences were . noted however when
contrasted against disclosure index scores. It was concluded from these results
that content analysis and disclosure indices measured different concepts, the
latter measuring largely a subset of the former. The consequence of this
finding, is that researchers, when deciding on whether to measure the
dependent variable by content analysis or a disclosure index, will need to
define more the relevance of the measurement to be adopted to the research
question underlying the study. Determination of the unit of analysis to utilize
when adopting content analysis is less complicated as each technique provides
essentially the same results.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/221882 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Shaun Leigh Mitchell Williams |
| Publisher | Murdoch University |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.murdoch.edu.au/goto/CopyrightNotice, Copyright Shaun Leigh Mitchell Williams |
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