Investigating the awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and practice in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study investigates the awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and practice in Saudi Arabia by investigating how Saudi stakeholders perceieve CSR and the extent of CSR reporting practices among Saudi listed companies, particularly investing how internal and external stakeholders understand CSR and its disclosure. Furthermore this study explores the integration of CSR within Saudi Listed Companies' corporate policies and strategies and the dimensions that affect it, including the local culture, religion, regulation and governance characteristics. Semi-structured interview were used to ascertain the perspectives of CSR among different stakeholders concerning the different dimensions, and content analysis technique was used to analyse annual reports concerning the extent of CSR disclosure. Listed Companies' corporate policies and strategies were explored by both semi-structured interview and content analysis. Overall, it was found the the CSR concept become understandable and there is a development of perspective of CSR in Saudi Arabia. This research also show the CSR disclosure by Saudi listed companies is driven by legitimacy theory. The findings also show the level of of CSR disclosure in Saudi Listed Companies has been increasing recently, particularly during the last six years, with increasing integration in companies' policy and strategy. Furthermore, 'culture' was rated as the greatest contributing factor to CSR in Saudi Arabia