Environmental disclosure studies in Middle East and Northern Africa in shadow of theoretical context
| Pages | 334-349 |
| Date | 10 September 2017 |
| Published date | 10 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2017-0007 |
| Author | Kamal Eljayash |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
Environmental disclosure
studies in Middle East and
Northern Africa in shadow of
theoretical context
Kamal Eljayash
Department of Accounting, Zawia University, Zawia, Libya
Abstract
Purpose –Over the past few decades, accounting research has received considerable attention from
academics and researchers in an effort to understand and interpret accounting events in firms. Environmental
disclosure research is featured in those studies because of its effect on the number of groups within society
where companies operate. Therefore, many studies, especially in developing countries, have been conducted
in order to interpret and reach an understanding of the determinants of disclosure in companies through
using accounting and social theories. In the Middle East and North Africa, a substantial number of accounting
studies have been undertaken aimed at addressing the environmental disclosure in companies. The purpose
of this paper is to examine these studies conducted in the Middle East and North Africa in order to establish
an overview of the theoretical approach in the interpretation of the environmental disclosure in companies.
Design/methodology/approach –Review of studies of the environmental disclosure in the Gulf regionand
North Africa by focusing on a theoretical method that interpreted the environmental disclosure.
Findings –Studies have shown a difference in the theoretical interpretation of the environmental disclosure
with emphasis on the theory of stakeholder, the most common in such studies.
Originality/value –The value of this study is to add to the accounting literature in this area which, thus, is
considered as a starting point for future studies on the most important theories used in the interpretation of
environmental disclosure in the Gulf region and North Africa.
Keywords Environmental disclosure, Middle East, Northern Africa, Theoretical context
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The general consensus amongst accountants, academics and intellectuals is that accounting
is a social system; therefore, accounting exists within a set of systems such as political
systems and economic systems. The cultural environment in any country has a significant
impact on its systems, and there are variations in how the systems interact with one
another. This is likely to lead to changes and interactions between systems within the
country as a result of changes in the disclosure policy required in companies. As a
consequence of that, changes and interactions between systems may affect companies
within countries and force them to provide further details about their activities in
accordance with the system requirements. In order to obtain a complete picture of the
interaction of accounting practices within the prevailing regulations, theories have emerged
to provide an explanation of these practices within the theoretical framework of these
theories. Accordingly, companies are likely to disclose their activities and provide additional
information voluntarily, or as a result of pressure from the owners or interest groups, in
order to gain legitimacy by replicating the practices of other companies in the same sector.
Over the last few decades, researchers and academics have witnessed a steady increase in
corporate environmental disclosure. Researchers into corporate environmental disclosure have
sought to explain and understand the corporate reporting related to environmental activities.
In fact, many corporations aim to improve their performance in order to meet the demands of
stakeholders. Unquestionably, in recent years, the challenge and pressu res have increased for
contemporary business firms seeking to improve their social and environmental performance
World Journal of
Entrepreneurship, Management
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 13 No. 4, 2017
pp. 334-349
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2017-0007
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
334
WJEMSD
13,4
with the expansion of environmental activities. However, there has been a growing criticism
towards companies’performance regarding corporate social and environmental responsibility;
which encourages the emergence of corporate social accou nting in order to show the social and
environmental impacts of organisations operating within a society. In this context, Bebbington
and Thomson (2007, p. 42) define social and en vironmental accounting as “an inclusive field of
accounting for social and environmental events which arise as a result of, and are intimately
tied to, the economic actions of entities”. Deegan (2003, p. 10) defines environmental accounting
as “a broader term that relates to the provision of environmental-performance related
information to stakeholders both within, and outside, the organisation”. Therefore, social and
environmental performance has become a priority for most companies and has led to the
issuing of social and environmental reports by many corporations in order to provide a holistic
view of their performance.
It can be said that social and environmental disclosure comprises information relating to
a corporation’s activities, aspirations and public image with regard to environmental,
community, employee and consumer issues. In light of this, in recent years, researchers have
paid more attention to social and environmental accounting and, thus, corporate social and
environmental reporting has featured more prominently in the literature. Solomon and
Solomon (2010, p. 24) also noted that “social and environmental reporting is the broader
range of accountability mechanisms under the frontiers of corporate governance research”.
However, corporate social and environmental disclosure has varied in terms of
quality and quantity according to temporal, spatial and sector influences. Many researchers
have sought to investigate social and environmental disclosure in order to explain and
understand this variation. In this regard, researchers have examined and developed theories
to most accurately explain and predict corporate social and environmental reporting
behaviour. Despite the avalanche of extensive studies on the environmental disclosure
in many countries, especially Western countries, the explanatory views for the disclosure
of environmental and social activities remain varied amongst the researchers (Wangombe,
2013; Van Der Laan, 2009; Omran and Ramdhony, 2015).
Researchers in environmental and social accountability have used theories to put
forward an explanation for the behaviour of corporate disclosure. According to Burgwal
and Vieira (2014) and Van Der Laan (2009), there are several theories which have commonly
been used to examine and explain corporate environmental disclosure. These include
stakeholder, legitimacy, shareholder and institutional theories within social accounting
theories (Burgwal and Vieira, 2014; Wangombe, 2013; Sharma, 2013). However, there are
many theories that have been applied in studies related to the environmental and social
disclosure studies other than the social accounting theories. Gray et al. (2009, p. 3) assert that
“there is an almost infinite array of theories potentially available to social science research
and social accounting in particular”. Therefore, there are attempts amongst researchers to
determine a specific direction in order to determine the most common theories in the
preparation of environmental reports (Creswell, 2013).
A review of the literature related to environmental disclosure activities in companies
reveals that developed countries have paid more attention to environmental disclosure
studies over the past four decades. Mbekomize and Wally-Dima (2013) mentioned that
corporate environmental disclosure has been studied extensively by several researchers and
the practice has improved over the years in developed countries. Despite the interest and
subsequent studies in corporate environmental disclosure in developed countries, there have
been limited studies on environmental disclosure in emerging countries (Islam and Deegan,
2008; Huang and Kung, 2010; Naser et al., 2006). These studies demonstrate a difference in
environmental disclosure practices. This paper seeks to review studies conducted in the
Middle East and North Africa in order to review the theories used in explaining corporate
environmental disclosure.
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Environmental
disclosure
studies
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