Environmental Disclosures by the Malaysian Construction Sector: Exploring Extent and Quality

Abstract

We examine the extent and quality of environmental disclosures by public‐listed Malaysian construction companies in their 2009 annual reports. Most of the 49 sample companies provide general disclosures which are positive and non‐verifiable in nature. Very few companies disclose quantitative/non‐monetary or monetary environmental information. In addition, companies did not make disclosures in eight of the items contained in the index. This suggests that environmental disclosures do not discharge the companies’ accountability as disclosures are neither complete nor comprehensive enough and are largely confined to general, narrative statements which cannot be verified. To ensure accountability, regulators must introduce environmental reporting guidelines which specify content and format of the disclosures. This study addresses the paucity of Malaysian environmental disclosure literature and is one of the few which also examines quality of disclosure. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Engagement of directors representing institutional investors on environmental disclosure

“…Thus, in line with most of the previous research focused on environmental disclosure, our analysis is based on stakeholder theory (Kolk & Pinkse, ; Prado‐Lorenzo, Gallego‐Álvarez, & García‐Sánchez, ; Sarkis, González‐Torre, & Adenso‐Díaz, ; Husted & Allen, ; Lee, ; Perez‐Batres, Doh, Miller, & Pisani, ; Yamahaki, ; Montiel & Delgado‐Ceballos, ) and legitimacy theory (Ahmad & Mohamad, ; Gray et al, ; Llena, Moneva, & Hernández, ; Milne & Patten, ; Walden & Schwartz, ; Wang, Hsieh, & Sarkis, ).…”

Using Formal Concept Analysis to Examine Water Disclosure in Corporate Social Responsibility Reports

“…Ahmad and Mohamad () studied environmental disclosures by Malaysian construction companies, based on the companies' 2009 annual reports. They categorized the companies' disclosures by qualitative and quantitative characteristics, and whether they revealed non‐monetary or monetary environmental information.…”

“…The authors argue that their approach is consistent with the emphasis of Parker () in helping ‘understand disclosure practices from a more normative, accountability perspective’ (p. 240). While Ahmad and Mohamad () address carbon disclosure issues in Malaysia from the said ‘normative, accountability perspective,’ our study looks at water disclosures by firms in the US food industry from the same perspective. Unlike Ahmad and Mohamad (), ours is an exploratory study that generates insight into the potential usefulness of FCA in fostering greater understanding of such water‐related disclosures as exist.…”

Transparency of Global Apparel Supply Chains: Quantitative Analysis of Corporate Disclosures

“…To explore the current status of implementation of the Act in the apparel industry, a quantitative content analysis was conducted to investigate the website disclosures. Content analysis has been extensively used in CSR research (Maphosa, ; Jose & Lee, ; Ahmad & Mohamad, ; Ahmed et al , ; Romolini et al , ).…”