Corporate social responsibility disclosure and corporate reputation in developing countries: the case of Libya

Abstract

This paper uses stakeholder theory to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and corporate reputation (CR) using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper was undertaken in Libya, because Libya has an important standing in the world economy as well as a different political and economic system (Wallace & Wilkinson 2004). Moreover, it is a particularly interesting country, as socialist and Islamic factors have impacted on the nature of CSRD. As a result, the level of CSRD has increased in Libya since 2000 due to pressures from stakeholders for information which may influence organisational performance for Libyan companies (Pratten & Mashat 2009). The quantitative data used to measure level of CSRD consists of 110 annual reports of 40 Libyan companies and 149 questionnaires collected from managers and employees to measure corporate reputation. In the qualitative data, thirty one financial managers and information managers express their perception about the relationship between CSRD and corporate reputation. The results confirm that a high level of CSRD is strongly associated with company reputation for stakeholder groups.