Determinants of environmental disclosures in a developing country: an application of the stakeholder theory

Abstract

This study uses the stakeholder theory to uncover the determinants of environmental disclosures in Malaysian companies. The stakeholder theory is operationalised using Ullman’s (1985) three-dimensional framework that includes stakeholder power, strategic posture and economic performance. Given the current regulatory framework in Malaysia where no mandatory environmental reporting is required and where the companies’ environmental performance is kept confidential, the findings suggest that the main determinants in providing environmental disclosures is the level of environmental concern (EC) by the top management (a measure of strategic posture) and the government’s power (GP) to sanction companies (a measure of stakeholder power). Measures of economic performance showed no significant relation with the level of environmental disclosure. This study also found that the majority of environmental disclosures are still confined to the provision of general or vague descriptions. Hence, there is a lot of room for improvement as to the quality of disclosure.

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