RT Article
T1 Black Economic Empowerment Disclosures by South African Listed Corporations: The Influence of Ownership and Board Characteristics
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 116
IS 1
SP 121
OP 138
A1 Ntim, Collins G.
A1 Soobaroyen, Teerooven
A2 Soobaroyen, Teerooven
LA English
YR 2013
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785648349
AB This study investigates the extent to which South African listed corporations voluntarily disclose information on black economic empowerment (BEE) in their annual and sustainability reports using a sample of 75 listed corporations from 2003 to 2009. BEE is a form of socio-economic affirmative action championed by the African National Congress (ANC)-led government to address historical imbalances in business participation and ownership in South Africa. We find that block ownership and institutional ownership are negatively associated with the extent of BEE disclosures, whereas government ownership, board diversity (age, education, ethnicity, nationality and occupation), board size and non-executive directors are positively related to the extent of BEE disclosures. By contrast, dual board leadership structure and gender diversity are not significantly associated with BEE disclosures. Our results are robust when controlling for firm-level characteristics, fixed-effects and alternative disclosure proxies. Our results are largely consistent with the predictions of agency, legitimacy, resource dependence and stakeholder theories.
K1 South Africa
K1 Ownership and board characteristics
K1 Corporate social responsibility disclosures
K1 Black economic empowerment
K1 Annual and sustainability reports
DO 10.1007/s10551-012-1446-8