The impact of corporate governance characteristics on banks’ corporate social responsibility disclosure: Evidence from Poland
Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies
ISSN: 2042-1168
Article publication date: 6 March 2019
Issue publication date: 18 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and trend of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in commercial banks in Poland and examine the link between corporate governance characteristics, namely size of the bank, ownership, boards size, board diversity and CSR disclosures in the banks.
Design/methodology/approach
The annual reports and CSR reports of the banks were examined between 2008 and 2015 using content analysis and panel data analysis.
Findings
The results indicate that banks improved their CSR reporting practices during examined period. There are statistically significant differences in the level of CSR disclosures between banks with a different ownership structure. Both foreign majority shareholder group as well as state majority shareholder group have a positive influence on CSR as compared with Polish majority shareholder (PMS) group (excluding State). Moreover, being listed on stock exchange has a positive influence on CSR as compared with not being listed. Further, the results also revealed that there is a significant positive effect of almost all variables related to the management board, namely, size, female board leadership and foreign board members on CSR disclosure, whereas all supervisory board variables and all considered ownership variables have no statistically significant impact on CSR disclosure.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the existing literature because the banking sector is often excluded from CSR studies due to its specific legal regulations and seemingly little environmental impact. Moreover, there are only few studies analysing the effect of boards characteristics on the banks CSR disclosure, especially in emerging countries. This study is also the first of this kind focusing on the two-tier system. Furthermore, the study provides the instrument to measure CSR in the banking industry. Finally, the research stresses the crucial implications for banking sector, shareholders and regulatory bodies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments that have greatly improved the manuscript, needless to say that any shortcomings are the responsibilities of the authors alone. In addition, the authors are grateful to the participants of two conferences: 38th EAA Annual Congress – Glasgow, 28-30 April, 2015 and International Conference on Accounting, Finance and Financial Institutions, Theory Meets Practice, Poznań, 19-21 October 2016 for their helpful comments and interesting discussion. Also, the authors would like to thank professor Michał Kałdoński for friendly and valuable discussion about methodology of the research. This paper has been written as part of the Project No. 51102-2-144, entitled “The Quality of Integrated Reporting in a Socially Responsible Company”. The project is carried out by the Poznań University of Economics and Business.
Citation
Matuszak, Ł., Różańska, E. and Macuda, M. (2019), "The impact of corporate governance characteristics on banks’ corporate social responsibility disclosure: Evidence from Poland", Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 75-102. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAEE-04-2017-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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