Research In Factors Influencing The Information Disclosure Quality Of Foundations

As an important part of charitable organizations,foundations play a crucial role in promoting the balance of resources between regions.The enactment of The Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China has significantly encouraged the development of foundations.However,along with the development,it is inevitable to encounter the problem of insufficient transparency of the foundation,which has a considerable impact on the development and credibility of the foundation.The proactive disclosure of information by foundations is key to enhancing their transparency and credibility.Most of the current studies focus on factors that affect the quality of financial information disclosure by foundations.Research on the factors influencing the overall information disclosure quality of foundations is relatively limited.And most studies use nationwide samples as objects to conduct holistic analysis,which are lack of regional characteristics.Foundation Transparency Index(FTI),a quantitative index jointly developed by the China Foundation Center and Tsinghua University,as an alternative variable to evaluate the quality of information disclosure.Shandong province has a profound philanthropic culture,and has been working to promote regional philanthropic ecological construction in recent years.Foundations are the main force linking regional resources,and the quality of information disclosure is the basis of trust and cooperation.The average FTI score of Shandong Foundations shows a fluctuating growth trend and is gradually catching up with and surpassing the national score.Though the development trend is relatively ideal,it still has a lot of room for improvement.Samples select the annual reports’ data from 101 Shandong foundations from 2016 to 2020 to explore the factors influencing the quality of foundation information disclosure,with the aim of enriching the information disclosure indexes and providing theoretical references for enhancing information disclosure quality.Based on previous literatures and actual foundation governance and management,samples select variables from organizational characteristics,organizational activities and organizational governance.The results indicate that the establishment of Party branches of CPC,the number of the full-time staff,the formulation of the personnel management system and the establishment of the official website have a positive and significant impact on the quality of information disclosure by foundations.Then using case studies test the key factors again.The results of the case analysis validated the empirical research conclusions.Among them,the establishment of Party branches and official websites has a significant impact on improving the quality of information disclosure by foundations.Most foundations have formulated personnel management systems,and the difference in the number of full-time staff is not significant,so the influence of personnel management system formulation and the scale of full-time staff on the quality of information disclosure of foundations is relatively weak compared to the first two factors.In summary,according to the key influencing factors,the suggestions from strengthening primary-level Party building in foundations,improving the internal governance and using digital technology to empower information disclosure.The purpose is providing path selections for the improvement of information disclosure quality,and helping the development of charity industry in Shandong province.Also,it made a“Shandong’s experience” for the national foundation information disclosure management,thereby promoting the development of transparent philanthropy in China.