Family-Related Antecedents and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Evidence from Saudi Arabia

Amr Nazieh Ezat, Mohamed Nazmy

Abstract

This study extends the previous study by investigating the key determinates of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure. The study aims to explore firstly the level of CSR disclosure in the Saudi Arabian environment to determine these companies’ CSR towards their stakeholders. In addition, the study aims to investigate the possible impact of family antecedents on Saudi Arabian listed companies CSR disclosure during the period from 2015 to 2017. Family members can play an important role in encouraging their companies to disclose CSR information in their annual reports. This study sheds the light on the role of family companies in disclosing CSR components by comparing them with non-family companies. Consequently, this study ran the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model in order to test the relationship between five main family antecedents and CSR disclosure. We measured CSR disclosure by a dichotomous checklist that depended on a manual content analysis. The findings demonstrate that, when compared to companies in developing countries, the Saudi Arabian listed companies have a low level of CSR disclosure. In addition, there is a significant relationship between CSR disclosure and two main family antecedents, namely, family ownership and family cross directorship. Further, when compared to non-family companies, family Saudi Arabian companies disclose more CSR information in their annual reports.