Effects of Arab spring crisis, industry type, and ownership structure on corporate social disclosure

Abstract

More attention has recently been paid to corporate social disclosure (CSD). Previous studies investigated the extent of CSD during and post-crisis periods in which the core operations of the corporations were responsible for these crises. Unlike most previous literature, the current study’s focus is on the Arab Spring Crisis (ASC). The ASC has introduced multiple economic and social challenges in Jordan and enlarged existing ones. Consequently, the current study concentrates on how ASC affects corporate social disclosure (CSD). Besides, this study investigates the moderating role of ASC in the relationship between each of the industry types (IT), foreign ownership (FO), and government ownership (GO) with CSD. This study contributes to theory by using the concept of reputation in the context of signaling theory as a motivation for companies to disclose social activities in a time of crisis. The current study used secondary data, which was collected using the method of content analysis. The study also adopted and modified a social disclosure checklist to measure the CSD Index. The Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) was used to analyze an unbalanced panel data of 850 annual reports over ten years. The collected annual reports belong to Jordanian firms from the services and industrial sectors. The results indicate that ASC and GO are positively associated with CSD. Furthermore, the study finds that ASC moderates both relationships between FO and GO with CSD. These findings inform policymakers about the nature of firms’ social disclosure behavior in crisis times, which reflects the volume of their social activities. This highlights the importance of firms as an effective party to handle social damage in times of crisis. Therefore, it may encourage policymakers to engage in extra coordination with corporations to deal with current and future crisis impacts. These findings are also crucial to the various stakeholders interested in (or have a high level of sensitivity to) social issues. Finally, these findings draw firms’ attention to the crucial value of social reporting in crisis times, particularly those with plans for additional interaction with foreign investors or governments.