Corporate social responsibility disclosure in islamic banks : a comparative study / Hanaa Mohamed Khaled Demerdash ; Supervised Abdelaaty Abdelmonsef , Heba Abouelsood

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Commerce - Department of Accounting

This study examines the effect of Islamic Shari{u2019}ah principles as a key factor inspiring CSR disclosure in Islamic Banks in emerging and developing countries. Besides, the study investigates whether AAOIFI standards being mandatory or voluntary affects the level of CSR disclosure in the respective countries. The empirical data was drawn from a sample of 41 Islamic banks from 13 countries distributed as follows; Bahrain (10), Bangladesh (5), Egypt (3), Indonesia (1), Jordan (1), Kuwait (1), Malaysia (3), Pakistan (3), Palestine (2), Qatar (3), Saudi Arabia (2), Sudan (4) and United Arab Emirates (3). The sample has covered the period 2010-2014. Data has been analyzed in the empirical study using content analysis technique and the annual reports are checked against the CSR disclosure index developed by the researcher. Analysis has been done by years (longitudinal approach) and by dimensions (cross section analysis) to test the first hypothesis. Moreover, this study differentiates countries mandatorily following AAOIFI standards from countries voluntarily following them, to be able to test the second hypothesis. The results indicate that Islamic banks fail to have a high level of transparency in reporting CSR as expected from Islamic institutions. Although they claim to follow Islamic Shari{u2019}ah principles and a high level of ethical reporting, they have a mean CSR score of 51%. The highest score goes to Indonesia and the lowest to Sudan. However, Islamic banks are improving their level of disclosure over the years under study. From the analysis by dimensions, the highest dimension reported is Islamic commitment and the lowest dimensions are Waqf management and insolvent clients. Moreover, the results of the content analysis indicate that the mean CSR score for countries that follow AAOIFI standards mandatorily (45%) is insignificantly lower than countries that voluntarily follow them (55%) according to a t-test at 5% level of significance. The research has important implications for managers of Islamic banks and for regulatory bodies

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