Regulating CSR Disclosure

Abstract

This chapter examines the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) regulation on the quantity and quality of disclosure of listed mining firms in a rapidly growing, developing economy, which is of China. It utilises a manually collected dataset based on firms drawn from China's Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, covering the 2007 to 2010 period. The chapter provides a brief review of literature allowing development of our hypotheses. It presents the research sample and methodology. The chapter discusses a methodology which involves identification of the information in corporate announcements on the level and content of firms' CSR commitments, and the application of content analysis to allow quantitative analysis of the characteristics of the information disclosed. Qualitative measurement is also an important component in content analysis. An objective index of the quality of CSR disclosure must acknowledge two types of disclosed information: general category and performance indicator.