The effect of the board of directors’ characteristics on corporate social responsibility disclosure by Islamic banks: evidence from Gulf Cooperation Council countries
Abdullah Awadh Bukair and Azhar Abdul Rahman
Abstract
Corporate social activities have become major subjects because of their effects on the quality life of citizens, in particular, and on the society at large. Therefore, today, there is an increase awareness of social responsibility due to the challenges meeting the financial institutions (particularly, Islamic banking) around the world. This paper examines the influence of the board of directors’ characteristics, consisting of board size, board composition, and the separation roles of CEO and chairman, on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in 53 annual reports of Islamic banks of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries after controlling of bank size, financial performance and relevant public. Based on the framework of legitimacy theory, the findings show that CSR disclosure has a negative and insignificant relationship with board composition. On contrast, the study found insignificantly and positive association between CSR disclosure and other characteristics of board of directors (board size and the separation roles of CEO and chairman). With regards control variables, the study indicates that bank size and financial performance have a positive and significant influence on CSR disclosure, while relevant public has no effect. Therefore, the results indicate that corporate governance structure of board of directors within Islamic banks of GCC region does not play a major role on CSR disclosure, because of family control. These findings suggest the need for improving the existence of the best practice of corporate governance for Islamic financial institutions by imposing additional constraints on the board of directors’