Web-based investor relations practices in Malaysian listed companies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed descriptive account of web-based investor relations (WIR) practices amongst non-financial companies listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. The extent of WIR was measured using an innovative disclosure checklist (known as WIR Index) consisting of 152 items overall, 102 for content, 33 for design, 7 for timeliness and 10 for interactivity information items. The result from 258 non-financial companies suggests that the extent of WIR is still limited. The mean for overall WIR disclosure is 40%, and 41%, 42%, 33% and 23%, respectively, of the WIR content, design, timeliness and interactivity dimensions items. The high degree of variation in the overall WIR and its dimension and lower score of the overall WIR disclosure items, indicates lack of corporate website usage for investors relations (IR) communication. The findings of this study could shed light on the extent of WIR practices and also provide an update on the current use of corporate websites for IR communication amongst non-financial listed companies in Malaysia. Hence, the findings should be useful to regulators and policy-makers to better understand and improve overall WIR practices by listed companies in Malaysia.