Purpose

This study aims to examine the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Jordan for the time periods of 2005–2006 and 2014–2015, ultimately establishing whether there was a change in the extent and quality of disclosure practices before and after the new regulations for CSR. Furthermore, this study additionally seeks to determine if the regulations are a major factor in changing CSR disclosure practices, or whether there are other factors for such a change.

Design/methodology/approach

The annual reports of 55 manufacturing companies (11 sub-sectors) on the Amman Stock Exchange for the years 2005–2006 and 2014–2015 were selected, and a CSR checklist was measured via the construction an index covering 36 items in 4 themes: environmental; human resources; community; and products and others. The study measures the quantity of CSR via the number of sentences and the quality of CSR by the weighting approach (on a scale of 0–3); furthermore, the paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to establish whether there was a change in the extent and quality of CSR disclosure practices.

Findings

The results of the study revealed that there being a significant increase in the extent and quality of CSR for the period 2014–2015 compared to that of 2005–2006, the most optimal performance being in 2015, bragging an average of 61,41 total sentences per annual report and an average quality score of 1.423. Moreover, detailed analysis of CSR extent and quality by theme reveals that the highest percentage of CSR extent and quality was within the environmental theme, with an average score 28.6% of total sentences in 2014 (extent) and 1.743 in 2015 of total sentences (quality).

Research limitations/implications

The current study has some limitations, which have implications for future studies. First, this study examined the extent and quality of CSR for only two time frames: before and after regulation. However, a longitudinal study would have provided a wider scope of study. Second, the study focussed only on the industrial sector, thus limiting the results to only this area. Indeed, the exploration of the CSR extent and quality for other sectors (e.g. financial and services) would generalise the results further, allowing for the making of comparisons compare among different sectors. Moreover, the study at hand has focussed solely on annual reports, which could lead to subjectivity, thus reducing the reliability of results. Future studies should thus focus on other means of disclosure (e.g. websites; environmental reports).

Practical implications

The current mandatory requirements would suggest Jordanian regulators have begun specifying CSR disclosure requirements in an easier, more user-friendly and traceable format. Indeed, the increase in CSR extent and quality for the post-regulations period would increase the need to organise mandatory requirements in CSR. For managers, on the other hand, the study provides the CSR as a strategic tool for reflecting the actual environmental activities, comparing it with the society’s expectations. Moreover, when budgets are limited, managers prioritise CSR activities that yield a positive impact on financial performance by allocating the limited resources in a broad manner.

Social implications

The results additionally highlights the ways in which the Jordanian industrial companies increase their levels within the environmental theme in CSR for the post-regulations. It could be argued that a great number of companies in the past decade have started adopting environmentally friendly practices and strategies to protect the natural environment, such as greenhouses, extracting non-renewable resources and reducing amount of industrial waste.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is currently no existing study within Jordan exploring the change of CSR over time – specifically in terms of before and after the regulations. In addition, exploring the quality of CSR using a weighted approach (scale out of 3) is not conducted in Jordanian studies before.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任的范围和质量：来自约旦的证据

目的

本研究旨在检查约旦 2005-2006 年和 2014-2015 年期间企业社会责任 (CSR) 披露的程度和质量，最终确定之前和之后披露实践的程度和质量是否发生变化。企业社会责任新规定。此外，本研究还试图确定法规是否是改变 CSR 披露实践的主要因素，或者是否还有其他因素导致这种变化。

设计/方法/方法

选取安曼证券交易所 55 家制造企业（11 个子行业）2005-2006 年和 2014-2015 年年度报告，通过构建涵盖 4 个主题 36 个项目的指数来衡量企业社会责任清单：环境; 人力资源; 社区; 以及产品和其他。该研究通过句子的数量来衡量企业社会责任的数量，并通过加权方法（0-3 的范围内）衡量企业社会责任的质量；此外，配对样本t检验和 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验用于确定 CSR 披露实践的程度和质量是否发生变化。

发现

研究结果显示，与 2005-2006 年相比，2014-2015 年期间 CSR 的范围和质量有显着提高，表现最佳的是 2015 年，平均吹嘘 61,41 句每个年度报告和平均质量得分为 1.423。此外，按主题对 CSR 范围和质量的详细分析显示，CSR 范围和质量在环境主题内的百分比最高，2014 年平均得分为总句子（范围）的 28.6%，2015 年总句子（质量）的平均得分为 1.743 ）。

研究限制/影响

目前的研究有一些局限性，这对未来的研究有影响。首先，本研究仅在两个时间范围内检查了企业社会责任的范围和质量：监管之前和之后。然而，纵向研究会提供更广泛的研究范围。其次，该研究仅关注工业部门，因此将结果仅限于该领域。事实上，探索其他行业（例如金融和服务业）的企业社会责任范围和质量将进一步概括结果，允许在不同行业之间进行比较。此外，手头的研究仅关注年度报告，这可能会导致主观性，从而降低结果的可靠性。因此，未来的研究应侧重于其他披露方式（例如网站；环境报告）。

实际影响

当前的强制性要求表明，约旦监管机构已开始以更简单、更用户友好和可追溯的格式规定 CSR 披露要求。事实上，后监管时期企业社会责任范围和质量的提高将增加在企业社会责任中组织强制性要求的必要性。另一方面，对于管理者而言，该研究将 CSR 作为反映实际环境活动的战略工具，并将其与社会期望进行比较。此外，当预算有限时，管理者会优先考虑通过广泛分配有限资源对财务绩效产生积极影响的企业社会责任活动。

社会影响

结果还突出了约旦工业公司在后法规的 CSR 环境主题中提高其水平的方式。可以说，在过去十年中，大量公司已开始采用环保做法和策略来保护自然环境，例如温室、提取不可再生资源和减少工业废物量。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，目前约旦国内尚无探索 CSR 随时间变化的研究——特别是在法规之前和之后。此外，以前约旦的研究中没有使用加权方法（3 分制）探索企业社会责任的质量。