Corporate social disclosure through social media: an exploratory study

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure by Indonesian firms on their social media and to compare it with the mandatory disclosure on their annual reports.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use publicly listed Indonesian firms that are included in the SRI-KEHATI Index as the sample. Further, by using NVIVO software, the authors qualitatively analyze CSR activities disclosed on firms’ social media and annual reports with an interpretive approach.

Findings

The findings indicate that Indonesian firms still exhibit early stages of social media-based voluntary CSR disclosure. Further, issues on training, education and skill building dominate firms’ disclosure. Finally, Indonesian firms disclose less CSR information in their social media than in their annual reports, thus confirming the early stages of social media-based CSR disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The small sample size limits the generalizability of the results.

Practical implications

This paper provides insights on which CSR issues are commonly disclosed in firms’ social media. This study may also inform regulators the extent of disclosures that could be regulated in social media.

Originality/value

Social media-based CSR disclosure in developing countries is relatively understudied. Thus, this paper empirically shows the topic and intensity of CSR disclosure in social media and the comparison between this type of CSR disclosure with CSR disclosure using other media.

Citation

Ramananda, D. and Atahau, A.D.R. (2020), "Corporate social disclosure through social media: an exploratory study", Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 265-281. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-12-2018-0189