Institutional ownership, social responsibility, corporate governance and online financial disclosure

Abstract

A number of factors have been derived by the agency theory framework such as ownership structure, institutional ownership (INO), and corporate governance (CG), which can be used to explain the differences in the level of online financial disclosure. Corporate governance is greatly welcomed in business practices of today along with corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting patterns to bridge the gaps of business failings and indiscretions noticed in the materiality of issues reported. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the relationship between these regulating tools and online financial disclosure in the GCC; hence, contributing empirical evidence to interested parties - users, preparers, regulators and researchers in the GCC countries about the importance and the benefits of the online financial disclosure in attracting investors and in maintaining the rights of the users and the shareholders of financial information. The results indicate that the total level of OFD was 77%, where it has is a positive and significant relationship with corporate governance. The results also found a significant relationship between OFD and firm size, leverage and industry type. Finally, the study recommends that policy makers and regulators make use of information from this research in setting new policies on online financial disclosure.