The Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: A Study of Listed Companies in Bangladesh

This is an exploratory study designed to investigate the extant and nature of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) in corporate annual reports (CAR) of listed companies in Bangladesh. Specifically, the report examines the relationship between corporate attributes and firm-specific factors and corporate social responsibility disclosures. Data are taken from annual reports of 2007 of the listed companies of Dhaka Stock Exchanges. The study uses ordinary least squares regression model to examine the relationship between explanatory variables and corporate social responsibility disclosure and un-weighted relative disclosure index to measure voluntary disclosure. The extent of CSRD level is measured using 39 items of information. The result shows a positive association between proportion of Independent Directors (INDs) and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD). But, size of the firm does not affect the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure. Control variables suggest that Board Leadership Structure (BLS), Board Audit Committee (BAC) and Percentage Return on Equity (PROE) are positively associated with company’s corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The result shows that a higher proportion of independent non-executive directors on a board is positively related to the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure but the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure is negatively related for firm’s size.