Corporate attributes and corporate social disclosures: a meta-analytical review

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how the corporate attributes, namely, company size, age, leverage, profitability and ownership concentration, are associated with corporate social disclosures (CSD). The paper further examines whether there are any moderating effects on the association because of different proxies of corporate attributes.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses 35 articles published between 1996 and 2016 for finding out the integrated results of the previous studies. The study uses the meta-analysis technique developed by Hunter et al. (1982) and Hunter and Schmidt (1990).

Findings

The findings of the overall meta-analysis show that company size and ownership concentration are significantly and positively associated with CSD, while age, profitability and leverage indicate an insignificant positive association. Also, the different proxies of explanatory variables moderate the association between corporate attributes and CSD.

Originality/value

This is a unique study that determines the association between corporate attributes and CSD by using meta-analysis. Therefore, it is expected that this investigation solves the inconclusive and mixed results of the prior studies and assists future researchers to develop a theory in that context.

Citation

Majumder, M.T.H., Li, X., Akter, A. and Begum, M. (2019), "Corporate attributes and corporate social disclosures: a meta-analytical review", International Journal of Law and Management, Vol. 61 No. 1, pp. 45-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-02-2018-0023