Differences of Environmental Disclosure Quality via Different Reporting Media: Case of Oil and Gas Companies in Developing Countries (Published)
This study aims to investigate whether there is any significant difference between different reporting mediums (namely, annual report, stand-alone reports, and corporate homepages) regarding their environmental disclosure quality. Using content analysis, an index and scoring scheme were applied to the annual reports, stand-alone reports and corporate homepages of a sample of 116 oil and gas companies in 19 developing countries. The results of this study indicate great variations in the disclosure quality in different reporting media. The stand-alone reports have greater quality than annual reports and corporate homepages in communicating environmental information. The study has implications in enhancing the understanding of environmental disclosure practices of oil and gas companies in developing countries. The study also provided an insight into the differences between disclosures in different reporting mediums, which in turn will facilitate the selection of reporting medium/s of environmental information that can be relied upon.
Keywords: Oil and gas industry, developing countries, environmental disclosure quality, reporting media