Search results

The main aim of the study is to find out the level and trend of CSR disclosure pattern of industrial companies in Malaysia and its relationship with companies' characteristics.

Content analysis is used to analyse the data from the corporate annual reports of the companies from 1998 to 2003. Samples are selected using simple random sampling technique.

Research findings, inter alia, indicate that there is positive relationship between CSR and companies' turnover but no apparent relationship is noticed with companies' capital. Relationship between CSR and companies' profitability is also found to be positive but weak. More disclosure by local companies as compared to their foreign counterparts is another noteworthy finding. Overall, CSR level of industrial companies in Malaysia is increasing both in terms of amount of the disclosure and the number of participating companies.

The use of annual reports may not give a complete picture of the disclosure practices as the company may use other medium to disseminate the information. In addition, his study focuses on industrial companies in Malaysia. Thus all conclusions derived cannot be generalized to other industries.

The current research is the only study in Malaysia thus far that covers a disclosure pattern of six years thereby widens the horizon of CSR research. Besides that it extends the previous research to cover new variables such as individual and corporate ownership, influence of the chairman's race on the disclosure and exploring the disclosure pattern by paid‐up capital.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of environmental literacy among business lecturers in Malaysia.

A survey, which involved a combination of newly developed items and items adopted from past studies, was used to collect data from 35 respondents (out of 70).

The overall mean score for environmental literacy is 3.22 (out of 5), indicating that the respondents' level of literacy is slightly more than just fair knowledge. The most widely understood environmental literacy term is corporate social responsibility (CSR). The respondents were apparently aware of the recent mandatory disclosure requirement, i.e. to include the environmental information in companies' annual reports and the initiative moving towards “Green Malaysia”.

Universities in Malaysia could learn from environmental initiatives undertaken by universities in developed countries in terms of implementation, organizational policies and strategies. It is important for business lecturers to influence students to favourably perceive environmental issues as one of the core business activities, using a participative approach in teaching and learning.

This paper adds to the limited literature of CSR education research, particularly in Malaysia, by filling the gap with the development of 13 items to determine the level of awareness toward environmental initiatives in Malaysia.

This study explores the factors that impede the growth of the voluntary adoption of independent corporate social responsibilities assurance (CSRA) practices among manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Despite the argument that independent CSRA appraisals would improve the credibility of information disclosed, the majority of CSR reports in Malaysia are still not independently assured. The aim of this study is to understand the factors that impede CSRA practices among public-listed manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The theory of reasoned action was used to underpin arguments on the reluctance of managers to undertake CSRA.

Online questionnaire surveys were employed to obtain respondents' perceptions on the factors that hinder CSRA practices. The target respondents comprised of CSR managers, corporate communications executives and customer relations personnel.

This study provides evidence that the behavioural reluctance of managers to undertake CSRA was due to their attitudes and subjective norms towards independence assurance. The subjective norms due to the risk towards corporate reputation and the exposure to public scrutiny were the main factors that impede CSRA practices among manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The managers' attitude towards cost, data management systems and the uncertainty of the merits of CSRA were also compelling factors that hinder independent CSRA. These factors seemed to override incentives to provide credible information to stakeholders.

The findings of the study are limited to the perceptions of CSR managers, corporate communications executives and customer relations personnel responsible for CSR activities of the manufacturing industries in Malaysia. The results of the study suggest that further initiatives or pressure from stakeholders or regulatory authorities may be needed to convince the companies of the benefits of undertaking third-party assurance practices as such actions would provide a platform for the companies to enhance the credibility of their CSR reporting.

The findings gleaned from this study would be of interest to the relevant corporate bodies and regulatory authorities with a view to formulating strategies to improve CSRA practices among organisations in Malaysia.

The findings from the study offer initial insights into the impediments to CSRA practices in an emerging economy. It adds substantially to the existing literature that focuses mainly on CSRA practices in developed countries.