Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures in insurance companies

Purpose The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the association between corporate governance and the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in insurance companies, using archival data. Design/methodology/approach The data set comprises 277 listed insurance company-years in Bangladesh for the period of 2008 to 2014. The authors have used a checklist to measure the extent of CSR disclosures. The checklist was developed based on the previous CSR literature. The study uses a multiple regression analysis technique to investigate the association between different governance variables, particularly managerial ownership, institutional ownership, board independence and the proportion of female directors, and the extent of CSR disclosures in Bangladeshi insurance companies. Findings The authors find that board independence and the proportion of female directors have positive associations with the extent of CSR disclosures. However, the results indicate that managerial ownership is negatively associated with the extent of CSR disclosures. Originality/value Unlike most of the prior research that explored CSR disclosures in non-financial companies, the authors focus on financial companies, namely, insurance businesses. The authors provide empirical evidence using archival data that suggests that some governance mechanisms are important determinants of CSR disclosures in the insurance industry.