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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been one of the main subjects for companies’ sustainability in contemporary years. Engaging in CSR practices has been recognized to be beneficial for firms since it might create value for firm in the market. The process of creating value in recent era has been controlled by firms’ hidden resources and simultaneously the concept of value added intellectual capital (VAIC). This paper aims to determine whether intellectual capital (IC) and each of its three constituents (human capital efficiency [HCE], capital employed efficiency [CEE] and structural capital efficiency [SCE]) can generate improvements in CSR in an emerging market.

Using the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility (S&P/EGX ESG) index and extracting accounting data from the annual reports of companies listed on this index, an empirical analysis that considers VAIC and its elements was accomplished on a sample of 267 firm-year observations for a nine-year period beginning in 2010.

The empirical results of the multivariate regression indicated that Egyptian companies active in using IC have more tendency to engage in CSR practices. In addition, it is shown that HCE positively influences CSR practices, while SCE has a negative association with such social activities, and CEE has no significant relationship with CSR activities.

The results of the research have some implications through offering an enhanced understanding of using IC and CSR practices that might be in favor of several investors, regulatory bodies and scholars concerned with firms’ social activities. Besides, it provides empirical evidence that the efficient use of IC provides advantages not only for the stockholders but also for the community.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies to investigate Egyptian firms for IC and CSR topics. In addition, this study provides empirical evidence on this relationship from the Egyptian environment that is different from other cultural and institutional environments in which previous studies were conducted.

In 2015, Bursa Malaysia Berhad (BMB) issued the first edition of the Sustainability Reporting Guide (SRG 1.0) to aid Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs) in preparing corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR). After receiving users' commentaries, BMB issued the second edition of SRG (SRG 2.0) in 2018. Given the major amendments in CSRR regulatory guidelines, there is a need to analyze the readability of CSRR in light of the new guide and to investigate the combined effects of SRG 2.0 and the assurance of CSR information on the readability of CSRR.

This study employs two readability indices to compare the readability of CSRR ex-ante and ex-post the implementation of SRG 2.0 across a sample of Malaysian PLCs that maintained their market capitalization among the top 100 companies.

The practical findings of the multivariate regression revealed that the readability of CSRR is reduced after the introduction of SRG 2.0. Meanwhile, the readability of CSRR is positively influenced by combining the effect of SRG 2.0 and CSRR assurance.

This study provides empirical evidence that the amendment to CSRR has made CSR reports more challenging to read and thus reduces their communicative value. Therefore, in their quest to mandate more CSRR information from companies, regulators might need to consider advocating that such data is reported in a readable manner. This study also shows the influential role of CSR information assurance in enhancing the readability of CSRR.

This study helps assess the readability of CSRR among Malaysian companies after the adoption of SRG 2.0. It also contributes to the literature on CSRR, as the readability of such reporting within the context of Malaysia has not been widely examined in previous studies.

To assist Malaysian public-listed companies (PLCs) in preparing corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, Bursa Malaysia Berhad (BMB) launched the second edition of the Sustainability Reporting Guide (SRG) in 2018. This new SRG edition has several additional requirements for CSR reporting (CSRR), the most important of which is a chapter on assurance which provides detailed guidance on how it may be carried out. This study aims to determine whether the new SRG edition influences the extent of CSRR, and whether such effect is moderated by the provision of assurance on CSRR. It also aims to identify whether amending CSRR regulations and providing assurance on such reporting indirectly influences firm value through the possible improvement in the extent of CSRR.

This study performed a content analysis of the CSRR of a sample of Malaysian PLCs that maintained their positions among the top 100 companies by market capitalization between 2017 and 2020 to determine the extent of CSRR for the two years before and two years after the implementation of the new edition of SRG. This study conducted different statistical analyses to indicate whether the implementation of the second edition of SRG has an effect on enhancing the extent of CSRR, and whether the provision of assurance on such reporting moderates such an effect. This study then used instrumental variable regressions to examine the influence of the predicted extent of CSRR on firms’ value measured by Tobin’s Q.

This study found that the implementation of the second edition of SRG has a positive and significant influence on the extent of CSRR. This effect is strengthened by the provision of assurance on CSRR. Instrumental variable regressions also indicate that enhancing the extent of CSRR affected by the second edition of SRG is linked to higher firm value.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to assess the determinants and implications of CSRR among Malaysian companies after adopting the second edition of SRG.