Can stakeholder theory add to our understanding of Malaysian environmental reporting attitudes? / Evangeline Elijido-Ten

This research aims to ascertain whether stakeholder theory could, in fact, add to our understanding of the corporate environmental disclosure attitudes from a developing country perspective. Multiple ordinary least squares
regression was used where Ullmann’s (1985) three dimensional stakeholder
model was operationalized to test whether the quality and quantity of annual
report environmental disclosures (AREDs) were associated with the proxies
for stakeholder power, strategic posture and economic performance. Of the
three stakeholders represented, only government power (GP) was significant;
the other two - shareholder power (SP) and creditor power (CP) – were not
significantly related to AREDs. The results also showed that proxies for
strategic posture were significant and positively related to AREDs while the
economic performance proxy was not. Subsequent interviews with CEOs of
disclosing firms confirmed that while AREDs were used to disseminate
environmental information to stakeholders, there was not much demand from
both shareholders and creditors given the low level of environmental awareness
in Malaysia.