Empirical Study On Degree Of Corporate Social Responsibility Information Disclosure Of Listed Companies

Corporate social responsibility is developing fast in the world. In many developed countries such as United States, Germany, United Kingdom and France, the practical experience and theoretical research have been increasingly developing. With the background of economic globalization, a large number of transnational corporations grow rapidly and bring the theory and practice of corporate social responsibility to China. Chinese enterprises, especially the listed companies learn a lot from the experiences of the transnational corporations in this field. Nowadays, the concept of scientific development, harmonious society, and sustainable development is proposed and developing fast. As a result, corporate social responsibility study has become more and more essential than before. Carrying out the social responsibility and disclosing related information becomes an important endogenous request in exploring and developing process of the listed companies. Research on degree of corporate social responsibility information disclosure of listed companies is relatively weak in our country. Research on the theory of corporate social responsibility information disclosure has practical significance, and could give guidance to practice. Based on the review of corporate social responsibility and social responsibilityinformation disclosure, and considering of actual situation of our country, the thesis redefines the concept of corporate social responsibility. The thesis finds out listed companies'obligation to all stakeholders on current economic and legal environment, concludes and summarizes every aspects of corporate social responsibility. Then sets up the index system of information disclosure comprehensively, which include shareholders issues, creditors issues, employees issues, consumers issues, environment issues and community issues totally six categories ten detailed categories. The thesis designs social responsibility information disclosure index to estimate the degree of corporate social responsibility information disclosure and reflect the status of social responsibility information disclosure.The thesis empirically tests influencing factors of corporate social responsibility information disclosure in China. This study is based on a random sample of 100 Chinese listed companies from A-shares on either Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Read the selected companies'2005-2007 annual reports, analyze the corporate social responsibility information disclosed by the companies. The results indicate that the overall lever of corporate social responsibility information disclosure of Chinese listed companies is low. However, in recent years, there is a clear upward trend. The thesis also points out the problems existed in disclosure. Then, separately analyzes the factors from both internal characteristics aspect and external environmental aspect. After regression analysis, the results indicate that scale, corporate performance, in which industry, whether it is special treated are significantly related to the degree of disclosure. Among the external environmental factors, constraint from laws and regulations and demand from shareholders can significantly impact information disclosure.Studies on the factors may not only help improve the situation of corporate social responsibility information disclosure, but also provide policy advice, and provide theoretical reference to information providers, users, and regulators. As China is building harmonious society, the thesis tries to give some advice to coordinate the interests of all stakeholders and promote the listed companies and capital market to develop harmoniously and sustainable.